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Foreign troops a key issue in Afghan presidential battleground |
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Tuesday, 28 July 2009 |
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The conduct of foreign troops in Afghanistan emerged as the key battleground in next month’s presidential poll today as Hamid Karzai faces his first real fight for re-election since becoming president in 2001.
Smarting from criticism over his absence from Thursday’s inaugural presidential debate, Mr Karzai unveiled an election manifesto promising greater Afghan control over foreign military operations in a bid to limit rising levels of civilian casualties.
But the proposal, announced at a campaign rally in Kabul, came a day after his rival Ashraf Ghani raised the issue at a televised presidential election debate, the first ever held in Afghanistan.
Mr Karzai had previously agreed to participate but pulled out with less than 24 hours to go, citing a lack of preparation time and claiming bias on the part of the private television channel hosting the debate.
That left just two participants - Mr Ghani, Mr Karzai’s former finance minister and high-ranking World Bank official, and Dr Abdullah Abdullah, Mr Karzai’s former foreign minister, to argue out the issues, next to an empty lectern for the absent president.
Much of the debate focused on what was wrong with Afghanistan and, by extension, with Mr Karzai’s presidency. Mr Karzai won the 2004 election with 55 per cent of the vote but a recent poll put his share down to 31 per cent amid growing discontent over his ineffective and corrupt government.
“One of the reasons behind the incapacity of the government is that it is not answering the people, like the president who did not come here to answer questions,” Dr Abdullah said pointedly.
Mr Ghani said he would seek an agreement with US and Nato-led forces about how long they would remain and seek to close the controversial Bagram prison within three years if elected.
Mr Karzai remains the stand-out election frontrunner largely because support has so far failed to coalesce behind a single anti-Karzai candidate in a race lacking in nationally known figures. Growing support for Dr Abdullah, however, makes him the candidate most likely to force a run-off, although he lacks the critical support of the Pashtun south.
Mr Karzai’s campaign office announced on Thursday that he would not participate in the debate as he had not yet released his election platform or seen the platforms of his opponents.
His campaign manager, Waheed Omar, also cited an election commission report that judged that 59 percent of the media company Tolo’s coverage of Mr Karzai the previous week had been negative. The same report, however, noted that state-run Radio Television Afghanistan, Mr Karzai’s platform of preference, had dedicated 71 percent of prime-time news coverage to the president.
Mr Ghani and Dr Abdullah have repeatedly accused Mr Karzai of exploiting his position, charging that he is using state resources for his campaign and that he benefits from prominent and favorable coverage on state run television.
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پیام های خود را در 456 بگذارید
با استفاده از خدمات 456 پیام های خود را برای تلویزیون طلوع بگذارید. از تلفن های اریبا و روشن خود به شمارۀ 456 زنگ بزنید .
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ویدیوهای از موسیقی را تماشا نمایید
تازه ترین ویدیو های از موسیقی را در سایت انترنتی موسیقی باربد تماشا کنید و در مورد آواز خوانان افغانستانی و جهانی بیشتر بدانید.
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