Word: karzai
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Abdullah's rallies are unusual in a country racked by insurgent violence. While Karzai campaigns from the lofty, army-secured heights of head of state and another contender, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani (who polled 3% in May), dominates television debates, Abdullah is taking his platform straight to the streets, or, as the case may often be, the country's bumpy mud tracks. In a period of less than two months, the onetime warrior will have been to more than half of Afghanistan's 34 provinces, throwing rallies under the massive, multicolored tents usually reserved for weddings. The dangers...
Abdullah, who is an ophthalmologist and Karzai's former Foreign Minister, has adopted a populist appeal that has gone over well in a nation that is only 32% literate (for women, the rate is 15%). His speeches are short and his slogans simple. He tailors his message to the region. At a recent rally in the eastern province of Panshir, a historic mujahedin holdout during the time of the Soviet invasion, he extolled the virtues of the valley's martyrs but warned that the lives of thousands will have been sacrificed in vain if the current government is allowed...
Abdullah has positioned himself not so much as an anti-Karzai but as an alternative Karzai, offering the same promises of peace, security and stability with a new face, scrubbed clean of the corruption charges that have dogged the President's recent tenure in power. (The anti-Karzai title more properly goes to Ashraf Ghani, whose campaign is grounded in exhaustive, intelligent - some might say too intelligent - and effective policy initiatives that get to the root of the country's problems.) Change and hope are Abdullah's slogans, though like Karzai's, his leadership abilities seem to be based more...
While claiming he personally respects Karzai, Abdullah focuses on how little the President has been able to achieve in the past seven years (as both a nominated interim leader and an elected President) and promises that he will put an end to corruption and injustice. "Give me the power, so that I can return the power to you," he declares at his rallies - a catchphrase that has become another slogan. Yet even his supporters are vague about how, exactly, he plans to fulfill those promises. Saied Hussain Fakhri, 20, a campaign worker at the Kabul office, as well...
...Hazara ethnic groups, who suffered terrible depredations at the hands of Massoud's army during the civil war that followed the withdrawal of the Soviets. What's more, Abdullah is not the only former Massoud aide who can claim a connection to the hero's legacy - Marshal Mohammad Fahim, Karzai's running mate, was Massoud's deputy throughout his biggest military victories...