Afghan election result

Akbar Ali Khan

Shawwal 04, 1435 2014-08-01

Letters To The Editor

by Akbar Ali Khan (Letters To The Editor, Crescent International Vol. 43, No. 6, Shawwal, 1435)

Afghanistan’s brush with western style democracy does not seem to be producing the result that the west wanted.

I find news about elections in Afghanistan quite amusing. Both candidates—Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah—claim they have won. Clearly both cannot be winners. The spoiler seems to be Abdullah who thinks he was born to rule. He still carries a grudge that he was deprived of this right in the last round in 2009. What he has ignored is that in the badly divided Afghan society, the Tajiks are a minority. Had he reached out to the majority Pashtuns and shown some humility, he may have garnered the requisite support. Unfortunately Afghanistan seems headed for more turbulence in the coming months.

Akbar Ali Khan

Denver, CO, US