Ashraf Ghani claims Afghan presidential election victory
Campaign team says Ghani has beaten rival by more than 1.3m votes, but Abdullah Abdullah withdraws because of alleged fraud
Emma Graham-Harrison
Guardian, 27 June 2014
Phi Beta Iota: Ghani has his copy of all the tallies, most counter-signed by Abdullah's polling place representative. This is OVER.
Most foreign observers have no idea of the radical differences between the priimary (many candidates, time-consuming process) and the run-off (either or, one minute per voter, every polling station counted on site in presence of observers from both candidates). Abdullah's tape is a not legitimate — Ghani needed no help in securing Pashtun or Uzbek votes, this was if anything a “selfie” in which Karzai's thugs were trying to buy Pashtun votes to undermine Ghani's rock-solid Pashtun constituency and the tape is a desperate attempt to deny the reality that a 100% Tajik cannot win the run-off.
RECAP:
01 Abdullah is 100% Tajik. No Tajik can win a national election today.
02 Karzai acknowledged as much in April when he desperately sought to negotiate naming of Abdullah as Prime Minister and “power sharing” to keep the Panjiri kleptocracy alive while cancelling the run-off he knew Abdullah could not win.
03 Abdullah — along with Karzai and Atta — is the ultimate crime lord in Afghanistan, compunded by his also being the front end for Iranian money intent on splitting the country and containing the Taliban while dominating the wealth of the north-west.
04 Polls are the best means of detecting fraud, the US Government has been irresponsible in cancelling polls and then failing to publicize the results of the polls they have done. The independent polls are incontrovertible — Ghani won by as much as 60-40, no less than 55-45.
05 The integrity of Afghanistan — and the elimination of a border dividing the Pashtun tribes — is a long-standing instability factor courtesy of the British and the Treaty of Gandamak. Only Ghani can address this credibly via diplomatic and commercial means.
06 These last ditch efforts to delay and undermine a legitimate election that many have paid for with blood, treasure, and spirit, dishonor the legacy that is America, and the accomplishments of the Afghans themselves. The sooner Ghani is installed — without power sharing to keep the kleptoracy away from the Ministeries, the sooner Afghan can begin to live up to its potential. If Ghani also follows through on decentralization (provinces elect their own governors) and cleaning up the international donor mess (80% or more of funds not delivered into the country), Afghanistan is on the verge of a very bright future as the hub for regional prosperity in the context of peace.
07 General Dunford should not be replaced by a “combat commander.” ISAF should terminate with his departure, he should be replaced by a three-star, and the new presence should be named the Military Advisory and Assistance Group (MAAG).
See Also:
10 JUN Ghani appears closing down gap with Abdullah: Poll (Pajhwok Afghan News)
12 JUN Andrew Garfield: Two New Surveys Suggest Ghani Will Win the Presidency of Afghanistan
17 JUN Andrew Garfield: Ghani Wins in Afghanistan
