Afghanistan’s Might-Have Been President | Foreign Policy
Posted by calpolysjpme on May 20, 2010
Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan’s former foreign minister and a leading contender in the country’s 2009 presidential election, arrived in Washington, D.C., this week with a simple message: support for the government of Afghanistan does not exclusively mean support for President Hamid Karzai. Abdullah, who was defeated in a presidential race marred by allegations of fraud, accused Afghanistan’s leadership of having “lost a sense of direction” in remarks at the New America Foundation Tuesday.
Following closely on the heels of Karzai’s visit to Washington last week, Abdullah concentrated on the importance of strengthening Afghanistan’s democracy. “The success of the Afghan government will depend on the trust and sympathy of the majority of people in Afghanistan,” he told his American audience. Unless the country’s government drastically improves, the Taliban would still find willing recruits among Afghanistan’s population. Afghans “want a moderate Islamic country, democracy, equal rights, respect for women’s rights, education, and [to live] at peace with one another in a dignified manner,” Abdullah asserted.
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Afghanistan’s Might-Have Been | Foreign Policy.
The full interview with Steve Coll
Former presidential hopeful Abdullah Abdullah tells Washington that supporting Hamid Karzai and doing right by Afghanistan aren’t the same thing.
