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Afghan election all about vote
The battlelines have been drawn for Afghanistan's historic presidential vote in two days' time and it's not about President Hamid Karzai and whether he wins.
Karzai, and many others, have said it's about holding the first direct election in a nation torn by more than a quarter-century of war and struggling to come to terms with itself after the U.S.-led invasion to oust the Taliban regime. "It is just 2 years after having been through hell of 30 years of suffering and war," Karzai said at a news conference on Wednesday as the campaign ended for Saturday's poll, which the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban has vowed to disrupt. "Fortunately, so far, and I hope this will continue for the coming two or three days, Afghanistan has not had any major incident that would concern us seriously.
Karzai, handpicked by Washington to head a transitional government after the invasion, also appealed to the rank-and-file of the Taliban to join the mainstream. "Thousands and thousands and thousands of the Taliban, they are the sons of the soil, they have every right as citizens as every other Afghan has," he said, adding he was against only about 100 or so militants "who had committed atrocities." Just hours earlier, his running mate for the election narrowly escaped a bomb set off by the guerrillas. Vice-presidential candidate Ahmad Zia Masood was attacked in Faizabad, the capital of mountainous Badakhshan province in the remote northeast, where he had gone for a campaign rally. Explosives planted on the road went off as the convoy in which he was traveling headed from the airport to the rally site, killing two people, local officials said. Taliban official Mullah Dadullah claimed responsibility for the attack. Far-flung Capability Badakhshan is far from the Taliban's southern stronghold. Although the attack appeared to demonstrate a far-flung capability of the guerrillas, there have been relatively few attacks outside the south. And hope is growing that the election will pass off smoothly and perhaps mark a turning point for the impoverished nation. Almost 12 million Afghans will be eligible to vote. Most have never voted before and are looking forward to the prospect. "This is exciting," said Obidullah Moheen, an English language teacher, at a Karzai election meeting held at the national stadium in the capital Kabul. "I never thought in my life I would get the chance to vote. I told my class to forget lessons and come to the rally."
Jean Arnault, the special U.N. representative for Afghanistan, said: "Afghans are convinced that a popularly elected, representative president is urgently needed in order to bring an end to the violence, whether by factions or extremists, to achieve reform, disarmament, justice and the rule of law. "We share their conviction. And we think they will succeed." In his campaign rallies, which have been severely curtailed because of security concerns, Karzai has focused on the need to vote, for any candidate, and not on asking for votes for himself. "I urge you to vote freely, but I promise you that if someone else wins I will respect them and I will respect their vote. It is your choice," he has said. Two of the 18 candidates in the fray have said they were withdrawing in favor of Karzai, a key ally of President Bush. One was not considered to be very popular but the other, Sayed Ishaq Gailani, is from one of the country's best-known families. Karzai has always been the favorite to win, but Gailani's move could help him get the required 51 percent of the vote he needs to avoid a November run-off. While Karzai is easily the best-known among the candidates, the patchwork of ethnic groups that make up Afghanistan could work against him if voting goes on community lines. Even before it is held, the poll is being claimed as a foreign policy success by Bush, who helped oust the Taliban in late 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden after his al Qaeda network attacked U.S. cities that September. The U.S. president, who faces re-election himself next month, is hoping that a smooth election in Afghanistan could provide a model for January polls in Iraq, which has been plagued by rising violence and lawlessness since U.S.-led forces removed Saddam Hussein from power last year. But security is the over-riding concern in Afghanistan as well and a national army of more than 17,000, about 25,000 police, 18,000 U.S.-led coalition troops and a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force of more than 8,000 will be guard on voting day. |
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