Karzai and the Future of Afghanistan

(Thumbnail image from Afghanistan's Office of the President)

Results from Afghanistan’s election show that President Hamid Karzai may end up keeping his position. But in the midst of election fraud claims, media sources seem to be unanimously pessimistic and have turned to analysts about what the election results could mean for Afghanistan.

We take a look at perspectives from BBC, The New York Times, Russia Today and Al Jazeera English.

A reporter from BBC looks at what Afghans think of the election. He presents the view of Afghanistan's Free and Fair Election Foundation or FEFA.

“They’ve raised a number of concerns. Raising concerns in particular, about the legitimacy of the election. They’ve talked about intimidation, about threats, of rigging, about ballot boxes being stuffed.”

The New York Times interviewed Hajji Abdul Majid, chief of the tribal elders council in Argestan District, in the pro-Taliban Kandahar Province. He says no one voted in his town, so any result from his district would be suspect. He talks about how the election undermines efforts at restoring stability in the country.

“The people know that the government just took control of the district center for that day of the elections,” he said. “People are very frustrated. They don’t believe in the government.”

He added: “If Karzai is re-elected, people will leave the country or join the Taliban.”

Russia Today speaks with Gregory Mirsky from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations who agrees that the future for Afghanistan is not bright.

“I have no real hope for any real improvements in the near future, because the situation is not quite desperate, but almost.”

But Al Jazeera presents an alternative view, which says that the US is trying to name an Afghan chief executive who will work alongside the Afghan president. It talks with Haroun Mir from the Centre For Research and Policy Studies, who says the move is not welcomed.

“If you have a chief executive who was appointed not by president, but by the US administration, it will create more conflicts within the Afghan administration. And president Karzai considers him self as a legitimate president, elected by people. He will never accept, you know, having someone else who could probably contradict him, or probably oppose some of his policies and agendas.”

Guest columnist Ahmed Rashid writes for BBC and says this election puts blood in the water.

“What is now at jeopardy is the entire international commitment to Afghanistan, the danger of ethnic and political warfare, assassinations and bombings between rival candidates and an increase in the Taliban-led insurgency as they smell victory.”

Overwhlemingly, media sources are pessimistic about the future of Afghanistan, but we want to hear what you have to say about this issue.