DTN News: President Hamid Karzai Consolidates Power As NATO Troops Seek Afghan Stability
By Gregory Viscusi
(NSI News Source Info) KABUL - June 1, 2009: Ismael Khan has held sway in the west of Afghanistan for most of the past three decades, first as a mujahedeen commander fig
hting the Soviets and then as governor of Herat Province after expelling the Taliban.
In 2004, he was fired as governor by President Hamid Karzai and replaced by one of Karzai’s own men. In exchange, Khan moved to the capital of Kabul to be minister of energy and water, a post he still holds.
Karzai’s power to remove and co-opt local leaders is one reason that he’s well-positioned to win re-election in the Aug. 20 presidential poll. NATO officials are counting on peaceful and clean elections to boost the Afghan government’s standing as President Barack Obama shifts resources from Iraq to make the central Asian nation the main front against al-Qaeda.
“In such a centralized state as Afghanistan, it’s very hard for new challengers to emerge,” said Joanna Nathan, a senior analyst in Kabul for the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based conflict-resolution consultant. “The president controls all the positions that in other countries would produce future leaders.”
While large parts of the east and south are out of Karzai’s control because of a renewed Taliban insurgency, his political authority over the rest of the country is intact. He’s bought off once-powerful warlords with government positions, and appointed loyalists as governors in each of the 34 provinces.
Karzai will be facing as many as 43 rivals. His main challengers are former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, who failed to agree on a common front against the president. More than dozen Afghanis interviewed in Kabul and in Herat couldn’t name any of the other candidates, who include two women.
‘Splintered’ Opposition
“The opposition is so splintered and Karzai has put together a broad enough coalition that he should be a sure winner,” said Barnett Rubin, director of studies at the Center on International Cooperation at New York University. He has advised the United Nations on Afghanistan since 2001.
The president’s power is limited in other areas. The Afghan Army and North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops are struggling to contain Taliban insurgents.
And most spending in Afghanistan is handled directly by donor nations. Karzai’s budget this year is $2.5 billion, while military and development spending by foreign governments will amount to $5.1 billion, or 43 percent of the economy, the International Monetary Fund says.
Khan’s Return
Khan took over Herat after the Soviets left in 1989. After being chased out by the Taliban, he returned with the U.S.- backed Northern Alliance in 2001. He rebuilt the city and his militia by collecting tolls from trade with Iran, just 60 kilometers (40 miles) away.
Customs revenue is now back under the control of the Finance Ministry, Ahmad Yusef Nuristani, Herat’s current governor, said in a May 16 briefing at the governor’s palace.
“The warlords are losing their authority again,” Jelani Popal, head of the directorate for local government, said in a May 20 briefing in Kabul. “They’ve lost their revenue sources. They’ve lost their weapons.”
According to the UN-run Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration program, 63,380 militia members returned to civilian life and about 11,000 heavy weapons were turned in before the program ended in 2005.
Other warlords, such as Tajik leader Mohammed Fahim and Uzbek warlord Abdurrashid Dostum, have held positions in Karzai’s government or been appointed as special advisers.
Registered Voters
About 10 million people voted in the 2005 elections, which were administered mostly by UN personnel. This time 16 million voters have registered, and the election is being run entirely by the Afghans.
Mohammed Allem, a 53-year-old carpenter from Kabul, says he voted for Karzai four years ago and will probably do so again, though security has worsened.
He says jobs are easier to come by now, and above all, “I don’t know much about the other candidates.”
That’s partly because Karzai controls state media. “Despite promises to the contrary, the state television, radio and newspapers are still subservient to the government,” Reporters Without Borders, a Paris-based group that surveys press freedom, said in an April report.
The nightly news on Radio Television of Afghanistan, the state television station, is dominated by Karzai’s activities. While Afghanistan has at least 15 television stations, only RTA has the provincial relay stations allowing it to be seen nationwide. About 80 percent of Afghans live in rural areas.
Attacks Increase
For Afghan and international security forces, security is the main concern as Taliban and other insurgents penetrate deeper into Afghanistan from their safe havens in Pakistan.
NATO says that in the first four months of the year, insurgent attacks increased 64 percent. Deaths among the 60,000 NATO troops in the country have risen 55 percent, and mortality rates for Afghan police and soldiers increased 25 percent.
“The Taliban and al-Qaeda don’t have the ability to face our army and the international troops man to man, but they want the world’s media to think they have power,” said Brigadier General Khudadah Aqah, the commander of a U.S.-run police training center outside Kabul. “It’s a war of communication.”
of product carriers. The shipyard is scheduled to deliver the ship to U.S. Shipping Partners in the third quarter of 2010.
of product carriers. The shipyard is scheduled to deliver the ship to U.S. Shipping Partners in the third quarter of 2010.
