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Abdullah pulls out of Afghan vote

reefedjib

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President Hamid Karzai's rival in the second round of the Afghan presidential election has announced in Kabul that he is withdrawing from the poll.

"I will not participate in the election," Dr Abdullah told supporters, saying his demands for ensuring a fraud-free election had not been met.

But he stopped short of calling for a boycott of next Saturday's vote.

Mr Karzai had rejected his demand that election officials who presided over the first round should be dismissed.

President Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omar said the withdrawal was "very unfortunate", but the election should go ahead as planned.

Earlier, the US said a pull-out would not invalidate the vote's legitimacy.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in the United Arab Emirates: "We see that happen in our own country where, for whatever combination of reasons, one of the candidates decides not to go forward."

BBC NEWS | South Asia | Abdullah pulls out of Afghan vote
 
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afghanistan is KILLING this president

and it's gonna get a LOT worse

sorry
 
afghanistan is KILLING this president

and it's gonna get a LOT worse

sorry

I do see how this article is evidence of that, Prof. Care to explain your thinking?
 
this morning, cspan's washington journal (open phone lines) cites the ny times reporting the administration is "downplaying" this development

after obama and john kerry made such a big deal about this runoff, the results of which would go far in determining the president's ultimate decision, so indecisively and tortuously arrived at

and all in public

the white house can't even keep its story straight for successive days

more vacillating than smiling jimmy carter

a viewer's twitter sums up the admin's dilemna in two words: what next?

rank amateurs are running our government

sorry
 
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I do see how this article is evidence of that, Prof. Care to explain your thinking?

obama is STUCK in afghanistan

afghanistan is a total mess
 
obama is STUCK in afghanistan

afghanistan is a total mess

I'll await his decision. I think he is wise to take his time and coordinate with events.

On the one hand, I feel we should get out. Not because of perceived shortcomings in Obama's leadership, although it has started to be a concern, but because the Taliban have sanctuaries in Pakistan that we can't get to and the Pakistanis aren't going after. We can't win a COIN operation with undisturbed sanctuaries.

On the other hand, leaving would leave Kabul and AFG open to the Taliban to retake and establish their form of government which would undoubtably invite Al Qaeda back. Then Pakistan would be under even more of a threat, and we can't have a nuclear power fall into the hands of the likes of Al Qaeda. So, there are important reasons to stay.

This news is actually good as we won't have another round of accusations of voter fraud and the like. It probably helps Obama reach a decision.
 
afghanistan is a total mess
Indeed. Corruption is everywhere and extends to the highest levels of government. The Karzai government has intimate connections with the regional warlords involved in poppy cultivation and heroin trafficking.
 
Indeed. Corruption is everywhere and extends to the highest levels of government. The Karzai government has intimate connections with the regional warlords involved in poppy cultivation and heroin trafficking.

This is also true, of course.

What would you do, if you were Obama, and your top COIN general was asking for 40,000 addl troops?
 
Frankly, after what the liberals did for 8 years, I hope Obama's presidency is totally destroyed. The libs need to get what they give. And it will be by their own doing. Their liberal/socialist policies are bad for this country or any country. They are going to be stupid in Afghanistan just as they are here.
 
What would you do, if you were Obama, and your top COIN general was asking for 40,000 addl troops?
It would behoove Obama not to do things ass-backwards. The strategic horse should always pull the tactical cart.
 
It would behoove Obama not to do things ass-backwards. The strategic horse should always pull the tactical cart.

Yep. But haven't we recently changed strategies to a full COIN strategy? This is why we are seeing increased casualties as the troops push out of the FOBs and into indian country. The 40,000 troops is a surge to do COIN over a wider area, in more provinces.
 

My thinking is that Abdulah saw the writing on the wall and knows he cannot win the election.

What Abdulah is doing is further eroding confidence in the voting system and making things worse, not better. This is a lot like the whining and carping we saw from the Democrats when Al Gore, the dumbest man in America, tried to disenfranchise the voters of Florida by divining votes from hanging chads.

There will ALWAYS be problems in any voting system; there is no perfect system. But when you are a fledgling Government, it is better to work with the system and work to improve it from the inside rather than whine about losing an election and playing the boy who cried wolf and claim rampant fraud.

There are enough nations looking at this who have indicated there were some problems and there should be a runoff. Now that Abdullah got his runoff he is taking his ball and leaving. It doesn't make a bit of sense unless of course you know you can't win.
 
Indeed. Corruption is everywhere and extends to the highest levels of government.

It is the Middle East; the notion of incorrupt Governments in this part of the world requires the willful suspension of disbelief.

The Karzai government has intimate connections with the regional warlords involved in poppy cultivation and heroin trafficking.

Has there been any credible connection to this charge? I haven't seen it if there has; just speculation and rumor mongering.
 
on mtp this morning, andrea mitchell told david gregory that hrc, who's in the theater as we speak, encouraged abudullah not to back out

no duh

instead, the sec state told the quitter he needed to emulate gore 2000, fight the illegitimate within the system

ms mitchell also reported that obama would now have to DELAY his determimation even further

obama decided that he was going to decide to decide some time between the runoff on the 7th and his trip to asia on the 11th

now he needs at least 5 more days, says ms andrea

he won't even meet that deadline, i suspect

interestingly, nbc also went out of its way to trash general mcchrystal

gregory had on jon krakauer, author of some book that claims mcchrystal was central to the fraudulent silver star recommendation for ex cardinals strong safety pat tillman which found the football star was offed by friendly fire

gregory showed a clip of the general testifying before congress, saying he hadn't read the report and he'd do things differently if he could go back

the accusation against mcchrystal appears to carry some weight

but more interesting is gregory's need to go after the general's integrity

obamites don't like stanley

we'll see how the hand picked commander in the field reacts to the obamites
 
It makes no sense to completely withdraw from any race worth running as you only give the opposition a clear field and limit your ability to make any changes or your views known. When you have issues such a Abdullah has it is important to keep putting out your message even in the face of corruption and little chance of ultimate victory to show you are committed to to your principles what ever they may happen to be.
Sadly in that part of the world corruption is a way of political life as it has become here with the revelation that many in Congress are under investigation for various forms and levels of it. Seems the higher up the ladder they go the worse they get.
 
david axelrod on ftn this morning

schieffer: abdullah quit, does that impact your timing

axelrod: THE RUNOFF WILL BE CONSTITUTIONAL, abdullah's decision is political, it affects no change on our outlook

schieffer: why not, fraud was the big issue, abdullah says there's ongoing fraud

axelrod: his judgement was political, HIS REMARKS WERE MODERATE, HE FREES UP HIS SUPPORTERS TO PARTICIPATE, HE WAS GONNA LOSE ANYWAY, he's still the leader of the opposition

schieffer: when are you gonna decide

axelrod: within weeks, it's not just a matter of arithmetic, it's strategy, we must protect the american people from al qaeda, THEY'VE BEEN DRIVEN TO PAKISTAN, WE DON'T WANT THEM RETURNING TO AFGHANISTAN

***

me: suddenly karzai's legitimate? the election is suddenly good enough? abdullah disagrees

he was gonna lose anyway? then why all the fuss over the runoff? why did mcchrystal and his soldiers, risking all, have to wait for the plebiscite? how is our "partner" over there suddenly so "credible?"

al qaeda in pakistan is somehow comforting?

dang, the amateurishness of this bunch is truly, sincerely, to me, absolutely astonishing

much, much worse than carter

and THAT's really saying something
 
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