Drawn-out Election Results in Default to Karzai

By Sue Gloor

On Nov. 1, main opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah announced his withdrawal from the Afghan election, effectively handing the presidency to incumbent Hamid Karzai.

This move comes as a vague surprise, as during the over-two-month interim between the Aug. 20 election and now the Afghan political scene has been riddled with allegations of Karzai’s fraud, ballot recounts and talk of a new, fairer runoff election between the top two candidates.

This period of time has involved many conflicts, including a spat between UN Mission to Afghanistan officials and longtime friends Kai Eide and Peter Galbraith (which resulted in the firing of Galbraith and his disgruntled return to the US), increased Taliban insurgency activity in the region, uncertainty about holding a runoff during the winter and US distress over its reputation for supporting an openly-dishonest presidential candidate.

Now, after all this, Abdullah has withdrawn and forfeited the second election that so many have toiled to provide.

Obama’s advisors stated that Abdullah’s choice “would not greatly affect American policy and was in line with the Afghan Constitution,” but this seems simplistic. In the somewhat haphazard recount of ballots from the initial election, officials from Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission threw out nearly one million fraudulent votes for Karzai. Presumably, even more votes could have been discarded and brought Karzai’s impressive 56% lead down considerably.

So how could Abdullah’s pulling out have no potential effect on America? If the US’s next partner in Kabul was headed by a new candidate, not the incumbent, who is a member of a different tribal party, wouldn’t this significantly change the US’s policy toward Afghanistan? If nothing else, its approach would have to be altered to address the shifting political environment there.

It is unfortunate that the fraudulent fiasco in Afghanistan was never remedied with a more legitimate runoff election. Hopefully that despite his dishonesty, Karzai will work with the US to establish the credibility and fair representation in Afghanistan that the country drastically needs.