Abdullah, Karzai Both Hail the Afghan Elections

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. I’m optimistic the final outcome will be as good as the initial one,” remarked the former foreign minister, who hit out at the government for failing to maintain security.

Abdullah’s camp has said recently that it will not accept a Karzai victory as a legitimate outcome, so the candidate’s remarks prompt a cautious feeling of relief. I say “cautious” because of this:

“A large number of our countrymen could not vote due to insecurity. This reflects the seven-year-old government’s failure,” observed the ex-minister, who accused authorities of interfering brazenly with the voting process.

Conceivably, that could still become a pretext for rejectionism.