I asked Peter Galbraith, the deputy head of the United Nations’ mission to Afghanistan who was deposed for supporting a more rigorous U.N. role in opposing vote fraud in the August 20 elections, what he thought about Abdullah Abdullah’s withdrawal from the runoff. “Abdullah did the right thing,” he More…
The BBC is reporting that Hamid Karzai now has more than 54 percent of the vote in Afghanistan’s presidential election, meaning he can avoid a runoff election, despite more than 2,100 fraud complaints and a mandated partial recount. That places the legitimacy of Karzai’s victory in doubt, More…
Don’t miss British photojournalist Jerome Starkey’s wonderful slideshow of what Afghanistan’s beleaguered Helmand Province looked like on election day. We’re looking more and more at a situation where prominent presidential candidates are saying widespread election fraud took place, putting the legitimacy of the outcome in doubt, and More…
Short answer: *Shrug*. We don’t yet know what turnout was. But here’s the estimate that’s going around anonymously, courtesy of The Guardian, which I’m happy to see is expanding on the legitimacy question:
Kandahar, the country’s second largest city and the Taliban’s spiritual home, appeared to have been one
For a better picture of the state of the Afghanistan election, I called Akbar Ayazi, the director of Radio Free Afghanistan, a project of the U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Ayazi moderated Sunday’s presidential debate and has a team of 42 reporters from around the country, including 20 in More…
Alive In Afghanistan’s @BaghdadBrian passes along this video of a guy in Kabul showing “how you can erase the ‘indelible ink’ from your thumb, obtain a counterfeit voter card, and vote again as many times as you like.”
The early picture from the #Afghan09 Twitter hashtag and news reports is that the Afghanistan elections were plagued by “minor attacks,” to use The Associated Press’ phrase, and “sporadic” violence to use Reuters‘, but not major incidents. That’s either a testament to Brig. Gen. Damien Cantwell’s security More…
So we’re not going to get much security news after the Afghan government demanded that news organizations not report on suicide bombings and other violent incidents ahead of tomorrow’s presidential and provincial elections. But what happens after the election is more important than what happens during it. Already More…
Fresh out from the secretary of state. Shorter Clinton: we’re not playing favorites.
In three days’ time, the Afghan people will go to the polls to elect a President and new Provincial Councils. This election day will not be without its challenges, but the Afghan people have seen unparalleled campaigning,
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