The government of Afghanistan canceled its upcoming runoff election for president today, after the challenger Abdullah Abdullah withdrew his candidacy.
The initial election looked like a clear win for President Hamid Karzai, until "massive fraud" was uncovered. Karzai balked on a runoff, until external pressure from the United States and Great Britain forced him to go along with the idea.
Abdullah cited the previous election's fraud as his reason for dropping out. "I hoped there would be a better process," he said. Karzai was declared president, early this morning (EST), according to CNN.
The election, designed to promote Afghanistan's image as a fledgling democracy has done just the opposite, weakening it's position both at home and in the world, putting the U.S. in a tight squeeze between the Taliban, who look like zealots (but honest zealots), and the sitting government, which is widely perceived by Afghanis as corrupt from top to bottom. Dexter Filkins wrote in the New York Times, "Kept afloat by billions of dollars in American and other foreign aid, the government of Afghanistan is shot through with corruption and graft. From the lowliest traffic policeman to the family of President Hamid Karzai himself, the state built on the ruins of the Taliban government seven years ago now often seems to exist for little more than the enrichment of those who run it."
This corruption makes it hard to sell the Afghani government to Afghanis and also makes it a hard sell to Americans, who, after all, have to pony up most of the money to pay for the thing.
