Afghanistan Independent Election Commission (IEC) said on Monday, September 30, that based on its new guidelines no candidate would be allowed to seek foreign financial support for competing in 2014 presidential election. Legal action would be taken against any candidate violating the rule and he/she could be disqualified for running in the election.

This initiative by the IEC should be welcomed and it must strictly execute this regulation. Candidates who enter the election battle with material and non-material support from certain foreign countries would never be independent in making decision over important national issues and this would prove to be catastrophic for a country like Afghanistan where historically, there has been massive foreign meddling. Interference of the foreign countries into the very national issues of Afghanistan is one of the obstacles that refrains the country from moving towards peace and stability.

The fact that certain Afghan politicians and high-ranking government authorities have direct and indirect support from the various regional and western countries cannot be ruled out. But such an issue has never been taken as serious. The root of such practices and dealings can be traced out even in the presidential palace of Afghanistan.

Certain authorities have been allegedly receiving bags of cash from intelligence agencies of other countries secretly. It is feared that such money will be utilized to influence presidential election. However, it would be insane to think that the alleged authorities would ever be asked or inquired for receiving cash from foreign countries. They would not be asked where such amounts of cash have been spent.

Keeping that in view, it is recommended that the IEC must illustrate how it would implement its new rule. How would it find out that a candidate is receiving financial support from any other country? Such dealing usually takes place behind the curtain, as in the case of President Karzai. In the previous elections, the IEC’s measures failed to prevent massive frauds on the days of polling. It creates doubts over its capability to implement its new rule.