Word: karzai
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...days since millions of Afghans braved Taliban threats at the polls, President Hamid Karzai and his leading challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, have waged their own offensive, trading accusations of fraud and impending victory. It may look like politics as usual. But against a volatile backdrop of resurgent militancy and ethnic fault lines, the consequences for Afghanistan's fragile democracy are harder to predict...
...Initial results are expected to be made public on Aug. 25, though a final total won't be known until two weeks later. Karzai is expected to come out ahead, but it appears unlikely he'll carry the 50% of the vote plus one needed to avoid a runoff in October. Should a runoff happen, analysts agree the country will retreat to ethnic and regional divisions, with the majority of Pashtuns across the south backing Karzai, and Tajiks, the second largest ethnic group, rallying in the north behind Abdullah, the son of a Pashtun father and Tajik mother. Abdullah...
...Abdullah struck early the day after the election with charges that Karzai supporters were guilty of ballot-stuffing, intimidation and widespread irregularities. He expanded his case on Aug. 23 with claims that pro-Karzai ballots were still coming in from parts of violent southern provinces, where turnout was said to be low to nonexistent. A spokesman for Karzai levied similar charges of fraud-related violations while asserting that the former Foreign Minister was acting out of desperation. However, the head of the electoral complaints commission has since said his group has received 35 allegations of "high priority" misconduct that...
...create a climate that could be readily exploited, according to Mir, by the Taliban or "neighbors who like to meddle in Afghan affairs" - a less-than-subtle reference to Pakistan. "If someone wants to make trouble, it's a good time." (Read about the warlord who is key to Karzai's victory...
...Some see an opportunity in the nation's current political divisions. Presuming that Abdullah loses upfront or in a second round, Nasrullah Stanikzai, a law and politics professor at Kabul University, says a strong opposition is healthy to help raise the legitimacy of the Karzai government, which lately has enjoyed little public faith. "This would be good for Karzai, good for Afghanistan," he says. With U.S. mediation, political analyst Waheed Muzhda believes that a bargain might eventually be worked out between Karzai and Abdullah that "everyone can live with...