generalspeaking

Democratic (Pashtun) Afghanistan

"Canada believes that Afghanistan's next leader must be chosen by the Afghan people through a process that is credible and constitutional."
"There can be no place in Afghanistan for violent threats or attempts to subvert the Afghan constitution."
Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird

Well meant no doubt, but little more than high-flown rhetoric since violent threats and violence itself is a staple in Afghanistan. It is a country threatened with the imminent return of the Islamist Taliban to power once all Western troops, diplomacy and other vestiges of Western "interference" in the country leave, as they will. It is a country where tribal antipathy and Islamist sectarian violence represent the norm, where war lords and medieval-era ignorance prevail.

The democratic impulse beloved by Afghanistan's educated, mostly secular class comfortable with the separation of church and state is reflected in part by the country's constitution, but that constitution has been altered to reflect the Afghan corruption that permeates every facet of life in the country, from government to its civil agencies, the military and police and private industry.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai had fought against the Taliban with the Northern Alliance, as a commander among many others of his type, coming from an old respected family of Pashtuns. He speaks of the Taliban as his "brothers", and in a sense they are, since they too are tribal Pashtuns. Although corruption is not said to taint him personally, it does his government and his kin, in particular his brothers.

During the 2009 election, Mr. Karzai 'won' the presidential election although it seems he did so through fraud, leaving his major competitor for the position, a true Afghan democrat, to lick his electoral wounds and become part of the opposition in government, hoping for the next round. The Electoral Complaints Commission in 2009 almost forced Karzai back to the polls when it discovered widespread vote-rigging and ballot stuffing that disadvantaged Abdullah Abdullah.

Mr. Karzai's distaste for the interference of Western powers in the affairs of Afghanistan has become legendary; where once he visited Western capitals cap in hand, urging their funding of his nascent government, he now disavows their sacrifices to bring Afghanistan to where it now is, adequately endowed with the trappings of a civil democracy operating within the ambit of a glowering, fundamental religious ambiance.

"The presence of foreigners in our election process is against the national sovereignty of Afghanistan", he has declaimed sanctimoniously, repudiating the interfering presence of foreigners determined to ensure that democracy prevails in this forlorn place of conflict and poverty and medieval religious practise. His original installation in 2004 as president would never have occurred were it not for the sacrifices of those "foreigners".

He engineered this current election ensuring that officials involved were those of influence he appointed as reliable cronies. The still-ongoing contest between Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, both candidates who bring credentials of courage, skills and experience to advantage the country, has resulted in a stand-off because Mr. Abdullah accuses, with good reason, the election having gone to Mr. Ghani, as a result of gross malfeasance.

Between eight candidates for the presidency, Mr. Abdullah received 43.8 percent of over seven million cast votes, while Mr. Ghani polled 32.9 percent in the first round of voting. The June run-off vote featured just the two men. Eight million votes were cast with the two candidates now reversing their positions; Mr. Ghani taking 56.44 percent and Mr. Abdullah 43.56. The Independent Election Commission is in agreement that fraud was massive, implicating Mr. Karzai's appointees.

An estimated million fake ballots are now under investigation.

Labels: Afghanistan, Conflict, Democracy, Islamism, Taliban

posted by Pieface @ Thursday, July 10, 2014