That’s what The Globe and Mail reports:
A thorough house-cleaning would temporarily placate Western diplomats, who have been threatening to revoke aid dollars unless Mr. Karzai roots out government graft following his controversial victory in the disputed presidential election.
The risk in such a move is that Mr. Karzai
It was once the case that the American and Afghan Presidents shared a certain bond. It was a cordial relationship, even warm, begun by contingency and entrenched by videoconference. But the two men’s ties did not translate into similarly deep U.S.-Afghanistan relationship, and so governance, prosperity and security all deteriorated, More…
I look back on this to-be-sure paragraph from my pre-Afghanistan-elections piece about illegitimacy and wonder.
While the U.S. official cautioned that a legitimacy crisis following the election would “forestall progress on all other areas,” some saw such a crisis as an unlikely scenario. “Karzai would be a fool to
Reading beyond the Dade County references (made by the special envoy I suppose we must now call Richard LOLbrooke) in this Los Angeles Times piece about the Afghanistan presidential and provincial elections, there are some useful indications of how U.S. officials are anticipating problems with the vote. For instance: More…
Adversaries in politics, they come together to accept the election. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai cheered the “successful conduct” of the elections. His main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, according to the Afghan news service Pajhwok, said:
“All citizens are awaiting change and their votes won’t go in vain.
From today’s White House press briefing:
Q Are you still confident that this could be a legitimate election tomorrow?
MR. GIBBS: We look forward to observing what happens tomorrow and hope that it’s safe and secure.
Can’t really blame him for that dodge. But perhaps the point isn’t getting through More…
It may be difficult for journalists to circumvent the Afghan government’s ban on reporting pre-election violence. But a friend tips me to Alive In Afghanistan, a tool for Afghans to report and compile their own short observations about security, the election and more in their area. It is More…
Always a sign of strength and capability:
Unnerved by another wave of deadly pre-election attacks by Taliban insurgents including a rocket assault aimed at the presidential palace, the Afghan government on Tuesday ordered unusual restrictions on all news organizations, banning them from reporting suicide bombings and other violence during
Jean MacKenzie, writing from Kabul, gets real about the Afghan elections:
U.N. Special Representative Kai Eide has already sought to lower expectations, saying that the poll is “not perfect.” No one speaks any longer of “free and fair” elections — now international experts are content with “credible.”
For many
From our friend Brian Katulis of the Center for American Progress, who’s in Kabul to check out Thursday’s Afghanistan election:
#Afghanelection Besides small rocket attack in Kabul hit presidential compound this AM http://bit.ly/ngLzR, things are relatively calm 2day
How I wish Twitter were around for the War of 1812.
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