Afghans to vote in run-off election as US troops exit

KABUL: Afghans head to the polls Saturday for a second-round election to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai, with the threat of Taliban attacks and fraud looming over the country´s first democratic transfer of power.

The vote pits former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah against ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani in a head-to-head contest to lead Afghanistan as US-led troops withdraw after 13 years of fighting Taliban insurgents.

April´s first-round vote was hailed a success as turnout topped 50 percent and Islamist militants failed to launch any high-profile attacks on polling day.

But Saturday presents another major challenge in the prolonged election process, which began with campaigning in early February and will end when the final result is announced on July 22."There is concern that the enemy who failed in the first round will seek revenge, but we can assure you they will fail again," General Afzal Aman, head of Afghan army operations, told reporters.

"We have been conducting missions all over Afghanistan for election security for the past two months."

Ahead of the vote, the Taliban issued a warning to voters, saying that polling booths would be targeted by "non-stop" assaults.

"By holding elections, the Americans want to impose their stooges on the people," the insurgents, who were ousted from power by a US-led offensive in 2001, said on their website.

International fears have focused on the risk of tension between the candidates´ supporters after the result, which may be contested if the count is close and serious fraud allegations are raised.

"No one should be complacent about what is at stake in the coming weeks," US ambassador James Cunningham said in a statement. "We call on both candidates to direct their campaigns and supporters not to engage in fraud."It is our fervent hope that the two candidates, with the future of their country in their hands at this unprecedented time, will not seek a winner-take-all outcome.

"The last presidential vote in 2009 was riddled with fraud, damaging relations between the Afghan government and the US-led donor nations on which it relies for funding.

Abdullah eventually pulled out of that election, allowing Karzai to retain power, but this year neither candidate is likely to back down if the result is close.

Afghanistan poised for uncertain election as US forces exit

KABUL: Afghanistan heads to the polls Saturday to choose a new president after Hamid Karzai´s 13-year reign and a US-led military campaign which have radically changed the country but failed to defeat the Taliban.

The first round of the election comes as the final 53,000 NATO combat troops head home this year, leaving Afghan forces to fight the fierce insurgency that erupted after the Taliban regime was ousted in 2001.

Militant attacks and electoral fraud are the main threats to the vote, which will be Afghanistan´s first-ever democratic transfer of power, as Karzai steps down after serving the maximum two terms in office.

A repeat of the violence and massive cheating that marred Karzai´s re-election in 2009 would undermine claims that a decade of coalition fighting and billions of dollars of aid have helped establish a functioning state.

There is still no clear front-runner among the three leading candidates -- raising the prospect of a disputed result and instability as well as a fresh start after Karzai´s long and mercurial rule.

"There is going to be no neutral person to say who has committed fraud and who hasn´t. The international presence has been hugely reduced," veteran author and Afghanistan expert Ahmed Rashid told AFP."And the withdrawal of American troops at this point in time is really a disaster because it means the entire security burden falls on the Afghans."

 

PML-N splits in two over Pervez Musharraf’s exit

ISLAMABAD: The decision on whether or not to allow Gen (retd) Pervez Musharraf to travel abroad seemed to have divided the opinion of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), as it failed to evolve a consensus on the issue Tuesday.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif chaired a high level meeting to ponder over the issue, which emerged after the Special Court threw the ball in the government’s court. According to the court ruling, the accused could travel abroad if the government allowed him to.

Sources said the PML-N leaders split into to groups with one insisting on the immediate removal of Musharraf’s name from the Exit Control List (ECL) while the other opposed this idea.

The sources said that the meeting remained inconclusive but the prime minister had once again summoned the PML-N top guns to hold more consultations over the issue. They, however, agreed that Nawaz Sharif will make the final decision at the end of the deliberations.

Musharraf, who had filed two petitions in the Special Court to get the permission to travel abroad to visit her ailing mother and get his own medical treatment, submitted an application with the Interior Secretary on the heels of a court ruling which said only the government could decide if he be allowed to travel abroad or not.

Later, Chief of the Army Staff General Raheel Sharif and Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Director General Lt. Gen Zaheerul Islam flew into the Prime Minister House after a meeting of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz discussed much debated issue of Musharraf’s exit from the country.

The powerful military leaders arrived in a helicopter after the Prime Minister postponed a meeting on national security where both the army chief and the spymaster were invited.

Talking to Geo News, Information Minister Pervez Rashid said that that the PM had convened a consultative meeting to discuss the challenges facing the country.

Former president and Pakistan People’s Party leader Asif Ali Zardari also contacted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif through telephone to discuss the issue of Pervez Musharraf.

US commander fears full exit from Afghanistan could bolster Qaeda

Admiral William McRaven. – File Photo

WASHINGTON: Al Qaeda's core leadership in Pakistan has been seriously weakened, but the potential withdrawal of all US forces from Afghanistan could trigger a resurgence of the terror network, a top US commander said Thursday.
The warning came from the head of special operations command, Admiral William McRaven, known for overseeing the 2011 raid by Navy SEAL commandos that killed al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in his Pakistani compound.
“If we do go to zero, and there is no special operations component left in Afghanistan, it will certainly make it more difficult to be able to deal with the threat, ...and the potential resurgence of al Qaeda in the area,” McRaven told the House Armed Services Committee.
He said the danger posed by al Qaeda is “inherent within the federally administered tribal areas (in Pakistan), and in the northern part of Afghanistan, in Kunar and Nuristan (provinces).”
While most US-led forces are withdrawing from Afghanistan by the end of the year, Washington favors leaving a small force of up to 10,000 to train Afghan troops and counter al Qaeda in the region.
But Afghan President Hamid Karzai has so far refused to sign a bilateral security agreement that sets the legal framework for Nato troops to stay.
The Pentagon has begun planning for a full withdrawal, while US officials hope that a new president due to be elected in an April vote may be more willing to sign the security deal.
US officials privately acknowledge that retaining a military presence in eastern Afghanistan is vital for the continued use of air bases and intelligence operations needed for drone attacks against terror suspects in Pakistan's tribal belt.
Assessing the threat posed by al Qaeda, McRaven told lawmakers that the group's core “has gotten markedly weaker” while affiliate groups are surging in Yemen, North Africa, Iraq and Syria.
“So the threat is metastasizing. It is much more broad,” he said.
But he said the danger presented by al Qaeda to the US “homeland” was less than it was five or ten years ago, with “one or two exceptions.