Mr. President Karzai appreciated the move of his brother who was a leading presidential candidate for withdrawing off the upcoming presidential election. He said that he appreciated the move of his brother for putting end to intervention of election by foreign countries as happened, he added, during 2009. However, he stressed that he did not tell his brother for whose favor he should call off.
On Thursday, March 6th, Qayom Karzai who was one of the leading candidates formally stepped down in the favor of Zalmai Rasoul, the former Minister to Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He said that due to shared objectives and goals of Zalmai Rasoul, he will support his team in the upcoming presidential election. His move indeed poured cold water on hopes of his supporter. Despite harsh criticism against President Karzai, Karzai family still have deep influence and popularity among people. Nobody can reject that Afghanistan of today is not comparable to Afghanistan of pre-2001. Demographic changes and revolutionary rise of urban population, despite challenges, reflect the astonishing development and growth during past 12 years. Those who have left the country before 2001, and now if they if return, they will sincerely confess to major changes that have taken place.
Meanwhile, it also sparked different reaction. His rivals and those who just try to highlight the failures and mistakes of the government have expressed that such coalition is indeed a kind of engineering of the election. They blamed that present government, in fact, decides who should win. In other words, they claim that Zalmai Rasoul came ahead by encouragement of President Karzai and he is also part of the so-called palace team similar to Qayom Karzai, the elder brother of President Karzai. At the backstage they are all in one team and want to direct the public’s view in manner to the oppositions who also do not have strong unity.
Additionally, based on reports, similar dialogues also continue with leading candidates. Those who have lesser chance of winning now have a card to play with those who will stand till the end. If those talks succeed, we witness withdrawal of some other candidates too.
However, many strongly criticize such moves and brand them against the basic rules of democracy, but considering the present political environment, they would prove fruitful. The votes will not be dispersed among numbers of candidates some of whom have least chance of victory. People can elect their new president with accuracy and will get the country rid of current uncertainty.