Reports Link Karzai’s Brother to Afghanistan Heroin Trade

[Magda Hassan]

Uh oh, someones going to get a bollocking. :ridinghorse:

Maybe the reporter for talking about it. But, hey, Danny, Ahmed will get honours and wealth beyond his wildest dreams. More than he is getting now. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear his name mentioned next year as a Nobel Prize nominee for all his good work in bringing the warring factions of Afghanistan together through free trade and private enterprise. Certainly a place on the board of many trans-national corporations. Increasing the the US drug cartel's production to 90% of all the worlds market share is no mean feat. Any company would just love to have him work for them. I just bet there is many a heart just bursting with pride over there in Langley. Now, if he could just learn some Spanish he would be able to do the same for them in Colombia with cocaine.

[David Guyatt]

Maybe the reporter for talking about it. But, hey, Danny, Ahmed will get honours and wealth beyond his wildest dreams. More than he is getting now. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear his name mentioned next year as a Nobel Prize nominee.[/QUOTE]

:hahaha::hahaha::hahaha::hahaha:

[Danny Jarman]

Uh oh, someones going to get a bollocking. :ridinghorse:

Maybe the reporter for talking about it. But, hey, Danny, Ahmed will get honours and wealth beyond his wildest dreams. More than he is getting now. I wouldn't be surprised if we hear his name mentioned next year as a Nobel Prize nominee for all his good work in bringing the warring factions of Afghanistan together through free trade and private enterprise. Certainly a place on the board of many trans-national corporations. Increasing the the US drug cartel's production to 90% of all the worlds market share is no mean feat. Any company would just love to have him work for them. I just bet there is many a heart just bursting with pride over there in Langley. Now, if he could just learn some Spanish he would be able to do the same for them in Colombia with cocaine.

Yeah that's what I meant.

But what I want to know is, where does this fit in with things? Are they really trying to get rid of Karazi for the fraudulent elections or are they just pretending to look like they are bothered, and intend to keep him in power so his brother can continue what he is doing?

Infact...don't answer that. :thumpdown:

[Peter Presland]

This thread seemed the best home for this. The whole Afghan election saga has moved beyond farce.

From USA Today:

KABUL — The main challenger to Afghan President Hamid Karzai announced Sunday he was withdrawing from the Nov. 7 presidential runoff, dealing a potential blow to the government's legitimacy at a time when President Obama is weighing a decision to send thousands of additional troops into the fight there.
Abdullah Abdullah made his defiant announcement inside a tent packed with hundreds of supporters, including tribal leaders wearing turbans who sat near the front of the audience. Supporters interupted his speech with scattered applause and cries of Allah Akbar, God is great.


The decision leaves Afghanistan's government in a fragile position and heightens political tensions at a sensitive time. Karzai's popularity is waning amid charges of corruption and incompetence as it struggles against a growing insurgency.
"I think the government will have a difficult time," said Sayed Eshaq Gilani, an Abdullah supporter and member of parliament. "The most important thing is legitimacy."
Karzai's campaign spokesman, Waheed Omar, said it was "very unfortunate" that Abdullah had withdrawn but that the Saturday runoff should proceed.
"We believe that the elections have to go on, the process has to complete itself, the people of Afghanistan have to be given the right to vote," Omar said.

It should be vintage entertainment to watch the contortions of Clinton et al over this one.

[Peter Presland]

Well the 'vintage entertainment' I looked forward to in my last post wasn't long coming. This from Associated press (Hat tip to Juan Cole):

JERUSALEM — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says Abdullah Abdullah's call for a boycott of next weekend's runoff election in Afghanistan will not affect the legitimacy of that runoff.
Clinton was asked Saturday at a news conference in Jerusalem about the presidential challenger's decision to not participate in the runoff.
She said that it his decision to make but said the runoff has already been legitimized.
When Afghan President Hamid Karzai accepted the runoff after the first election, she said, "that bestowed legitimacy from that moment forward."
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the matter of when to hold a runoff was a decision for the Afghans, and they have already said it should be Nov. 7.
Asked about putting it off until spring, Crowley said, "It's not our decision," adding, "The sooner a new government emerges, the better."

Or as Al Jazeera puts it:

James Bays, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said many Afghans had told him that an election with only one candidate would be "farcical".

"I've been speaking to Afghans and they're all telling me the same thing: They believe that an election with only one candidate would be simply farcical," he reported.

"One educated Afghan said to me that one of the great things that the West has always boasted about after the days of the Taliban, was bringing democracy to Afghanistan. [But] many Afghans are asking what sort of democracy results in a second-round election with only one candidate."

Quite so.

Lots more to come I have no doubt.

[Jan Klimkowski]

Only one candidate?

Hell - They're simply showing the "savages" the innate superiority of the democratic system. :playingball:

As the Palestinians discovered, democracy means voting for the guy the West tells you to vote for. Even if the "right guy" is a quisling, like Abbas.