The dilapidated soccer stadium, a onetime Taliban execution ground, rang today with excited shouts of "Karzai! Kar-ZAI!" The chants weren't a signal of support for Afghanistan's beleaguered president. Far from it. They were the raucous response to a shouted question -- "Who's the one who failed at governing?" -- from a speaker warming up the crowd for Hamid Karzai's principal rival, Abdullah Abdullah. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins
This does more to survey the current political situation for Karzai than create a narrative of why his changes at winning another term are threatened now. A decent read ahead of Thursday's election, but not all that deep.
For Karzai, once the darling of the West and a beacon of hope for his people, it’s been a long, hard fall. Afghanistan’s first direct presidential vote, in 2004, was more or less a victory lap for him. Karzai, who had led the interim government set up after the Taliban movement was driven from power in a U.S.-led invasion, had no serious challengers in that balloting. An excited, enthusiastic electorate turned out in droves to cast votes for him.
Now, Karzai’s relations with the international community are frayed to the breaking point, and many Afghans who voted for him the first time around have declared their intention to change sides. “Our country is in a lot of trouble — so much trouble! — and he is not helping,” said Duljan, a 50-year-old woman who switched her allegiance to Abdullah.
The biggest problem for Karzai, though, is that he seems unable to articulate a larger vision for the country or even to explain why he wants to take the reins for another term. Questions about why he is running often solicit a rambling reply centered on what clearly were his glory days: his daring and dangerous return to Kandahar when it was still under Taliban control.
