Without an Opponent, Karzai Declared Winner
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission has declared President Hamid Karzai the winner of a second five-year term after his rival Abdullah Abdullah dropped out of the race. Abdullah said the runoff would be just as corrupt as the original election and withdrew in protest. (continued)
Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission has declared President Hamid Karzai the winner of a second five-year term after his rival Abdullah Abdullah dropped out of the race. Abdullah said the runoff would be just as corrupt as the original election and withdrew in protest.
The U.S. and Britain have already lined up behind Karzai, whose authority is so limited he is derisively known as the “Mayor of Kabul.”
President Barack Obama was due to give Karzai a call Monday to officially acknowledge Karzai’s victory, according to White House spokesman Robert Gibbs.
Karzai has been Afghanistan’s front man since the U.S. removed the Taliban from power in 2001. — PZS and KA
Strong Journalism, Rooted in TruthBBC:
Hamid Karzai has been declared president of Afghanistan, after election officials scrapped a planned second round of voting.
The announcement comes a day after Mr Karzai’s sole challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out of the race.
Dr Abdullah, who had demanded the removal of key poll officials, said the vote would not have been fair. The first round had been marred by fraud.
Truthdig remains committed to deep reporting that challenges power and brings hidden stories to the surface.
Support independent journalism.
Militants from the Islamic State group have declared war on Afghanistan's Shiites; IS claims responsibility for Friday's attack.
The agreement could see the withdrawal of all American and allied forces in the next 14 months — but it could also easily unravel.
A contested result could spark violence as supporters of presidential contestants are heavily armed, with long-standing grudges.
Since 2001, the U.S. has spent more than $103 billion on the Asian country—more than it spent on the entire European continent after World War II. And there is no end in sight for the debacle that George W. Bush began and Barack Obama continued.
Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah is leading Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan's presidential election by 11 percentage points after half of the ballots were counted.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday condemned a U.S. airstrike in an eastern border province that allegedly killed a woman and two of her children.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.