DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY November 3, 2009 ~ US President Barack Obama Urges 'New Afghan Chapter'

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY November 3, 2009 ~ US President Barack Obama Urges 'New Afghan Chapter' *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) LONDON, UK / KABUL, Afghanistan - November 3, 2009: US President Barack Obama has urged Afghan leader Hamid Hamid Karzai to "write a new chapter" in governing Afghanistan, after its disputed presidential poll. Mr Obama said that in a phone call, he had also asked Mr Karzai to intensify efforts to eradicate corruption. Afghans watch as a helicopter picks up extra election material on November 2, 2009, in Takhar, Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai has been confirmed as President of Afghanistan for a second term today when the election run-off was cancelled after his sole rival Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the race on Sunday. ~ Afghan police and Afghan National Army Air Corps help to carry election material from a helicopter on November 2, 2009, in Takhar, Afghanistan. Hamid Karzai has been confirmed as President of Afghanistan for a second term today when the election run-off was cancelled after his sole rival Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the race on Sunday. He was speaking after the Afghan president had been declared winner of August's fraud-marred election. Earlier, poll officials scrapped a planned run-off following the withdrawal of Mr Karzai's challenger. 'Legitimate leader' Mr Obama said he had congratulated Mr Karzai on his re-election. He described the poll as "messy", but stressed that the final outcome was "in accordance with Afghan law". Mr Obama said Mr Karzai "assured me that he understood the importance of this moment. But as I indicated to him, the proof is not going to be in words, it's going to be in deeds". Mr Karzai was declared winner a day after sole challenger Abdullah Abdullah pulled out saying the run-off could not have been free or fair. Mr Abdullah had demanded the removal of key poll officials after the first round, which had been marred by fraud. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters: "President Karzai has been declared the winner of the Afghan election... So obviously he's the legitimate leader of the country." Earlier on Monday a spokesman for Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC), Azizullah Lodin, declared that President Karzai, "the only candidate for the second round", had been "elected president of Afghanistan". He said the second round, scheduled for 7 November, was being scrapped to save money and for security reasons. The Taliban, which carried out attacks across the country during the first round, had vowed to disrupt the polls again next Saturday. Congratulations President Karzai - who was first elected Afghan president in 2004 - had been the favourite to win another five-year term in the run-off. One of the reasons for holding a deciding vote had been to try to restore some legitimacy to the process, after the discredited first round on 20 August. UN chief Ban Ki-moon was among the dignitaries who congratulated Mr Karzai A number of international figures, including US Senator John Kerry, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, had been involved in persuading Mr Karzai to accept a run-off. However, Mr Brown on Monday said he welcomed the commission's decision. A spokesman said the PM had "spoken to President Karzai to congratulate him on his re-election" and the two men had "discussed the importance of the president moving quickly to set out a unifying programme for the future of Afghanistan". UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who is in Kabul, also congratulated Mr Karzai. He said Afghanistan's troubled election had been among "the most difficult the United Nations has ever supported". The BBC's Lyse Doucet in Kabul says there had been intense discussion in recent days as to whether scrapping the second round would be constitutionally legal. Some observers are saying Mr Karzai's legitimacy is also in question, and ask whether his government can be effective, adds our correspondent. This would be a particular concern to President Obama as he considers whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Hundreds of thousands of votes were discounted from August's first round, including almost a third of ballots cast for Mr Karzai. The incumbent's share of the vote was cut to just under the crucial 50% plus one ballot threshold needed for outright victory, following an investigation by the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission. Mr Abdullah had demanded key officials be removed from the IEC, which is widely regarded as pro-Karzai, ahead of any run-off vote.

A Tajik-Pashtun former eye surgeon and ex-foreign minister, Mr Abdullah was judged in the end to have won nearly a third of valid votes cast. ANALYSIS Paul Reynolds, world affairs correspondent, BBC News website The US and British governments let it be known that they regarded the result as legitimate and constitutional and that it reflected the will of the people. Suddenly there was talk that the Afghans did not really want another vote, that they saw it as foreign meddling... However, the praise stopped there. There are conditions attached. The first is that the Afghan government has to start taking a lead in security operations... The international forces have to be seen as acting in support of the Afghan government and not the other way round. *Karzai in favour, conditionally BBC

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY October 22, 2009 ~ Afghans Take Steps To Prevent Fraud In Next Vote

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY October 22, 2009 ~ Afghans Take Steps To Prevent Fraud In Next Vote *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - October 22, 2009: Afghan authorities plan to close thousands of polling stations and hire new poll workers to discourage the fraud that tarnished the August presidential election and forced a runoff set for Nov. 7, U.N. officials said Wednesday.Azizullah Lodin, head of the Afghan Independent Election Commission speaks during a press conference in Kabul, Afghanistan on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2009. President Hamid Karzai's chief political rival agreed Wednesday to take part in the Nov. 7 runoff election, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown in the face of Taliban threats and approaching winter snows. President Hamid Karzai's rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, announced Wednesday he was ready to contest the runoff, a day after the incumbent acknowledged under intense U.S. pressure that he fell short of the 50 percent threshold needed for victory in the Aug. 20 election. U.N.-backed auditors threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes because of fraud. In Washington, U.S. officials said a power-sharing arrangement between Karzai and Abdullah to avoid a runoff was still possible although it would be up to the Afghans. One senior defense official said that a power-sharing deal at this point had equal odds of coming together or falling apart. Nevertheless, Afghan officials are scrambling to organize a new election in the face of a growing Taliban insurgency and ahead of the advent of winter, which begins in much of the country around the middle of November. The Afghan Independent Election Commission, dominated by Karzai supporters, is under huge pressure to avoid a repeat of the massive fraud, which discredited the government and threatened to undermine public support for the war in the United States and Western European countries that provide most of the 100,000 NATO-led troops. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has said it would be a "huge challenge" to hold another election without repeating massive fraud. The U.N. has set aside more than $20 million to support the poll, according to the U.N. spokesman in Kabul, Aleem Siddique. In an effort to tamp down cheating, officials will cut about 7,000 of the 24,000 polling stations which they set up for the August ballot. Some of those stations were in areas too dangerous to protect. Others never opened, enabling corrupt officials to stuff the ballot boxes with impunity. About 200 of the 2,950 district election coordinators will be replaced following complaints of misconduct leveled by candidates or observers, the U.N. said.Afghan soldiers stand by a military jeep with mounted machine guns in central Kabul on October 21, 2009. Security, voter apathy and corruption are the main challenges facing organisers of a credible second round of Afghanistan's fraud-hit presidential elections, officials and analysts said. Finding replacements for coordinators and poll workers implicated in fraud will be difficult, especially in a country where more than 70 percent of the population is illiterate. The government had to scramble this summer to recruit enough election officials and poll workers, especially at voting stations reserved for women. It's unclear if they would be able to fill open posts with better-qualified people. Siddique said the decision to close thousands of polling stations should not prevent people from voting. "Voters will be redirected to polling centers in the same district where they can vote, where security can be assured and where we have staff that are able to implement the procedures according to law," he said. As with the August vote, the Nov. 7 election will be run by the Afghan election commission and not by the U.N., which plays a support and oversight role. Commission Chairman Azizullah Lodin met repeatedly with Karzai in the days before the final results were released. At the time, his group was challenging the findings of the auditors on the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, a separate body. Lodin told The Associated Press that he saw nothing improper in those meeting. "President Karzai is president of Afghanistan. When there is some problem he must ask what happened," Lodin said, insisting he was not pressured to reject the auditors' findings. Lodin told reporters Wednesday that despite control measures, there was no way his commission could guarantee a fair vote on its own. He said most of the thousands of poll workers were students and teachers given only one day's training. "It is your duty, my duty. It is every Afghan's duty to guarantee" a fair election, Lodin said. Afghan police and soldiers will also have the primary responsibility for securing polling stations against Taliban attack, with U.S. and other NATO forces standing by in case they are needed. Taliban fighters killed dozens of civilians during the August election and cut off fingers stained with ink to identify people who had already cast ballots. During his news conference Wednesday, Abdullah called on Afghan and international forces to do all they can to protect voters. He said voters "are taking a risk in some parts of the country and they should be confident that that risk is worthwhile." Associated Press writers Todd Pitman and Rahim Faiez in Islamabad, and Anne Gearan and Matthew Lee in Washington, contributed to this report.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY September 13, 2009 ~ President Hamid Karzai Holds Firm Lead In Disputed Vote

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY September 13, 2009 ~ President Hamid Karzai Holds Firm Lead In Disputed Vote

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) NEW DELHI, India - September 13, 2009: Nearly complete but still preliminary - and controversial - results show Afghanistan's incumbent as the winner in the country's presidential election.

An Afghan man rides on his bicycle past a poster of President Hamid Karzai in Kabul September 12, 2009. President Karzai remained headed for a single-round victory over his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah in partial results from last month's disputed presidential election released on Saturday.*

However, President Hamid Karzai is going to have a difficult time claiming a legitimate victory and his closest challenger is not ready to concede.In another trickle of preliminary results released by election commissioners, President Karzai retains his firm lead with more than 54 percent of the ballots.

Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah has 28 percent. Out of the 5.8 million votes deemed valid so far, the incumbent has three million while the top challenger has just more than half that amount. Other candidates are far behind with about 95 percent of all ballots tallied.

United Nations spokesman Aleem Siddque in Kabul tells VOA News that it is premature, however, to judge the outcome."The game is far from over.

There are no winners in this election yet. There have been over 2,000 complaints made during this electoral process. And it's imperative that those complaints are thoroughly investigated before any provisional results can be finalized," said Siddque.

That means a resolution is weeks - or possibly, months, away. The U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission may end up putting into quarantine hundreds of thousands of ballots until the major allegations stemming from the August 20 election are resolved.Asked at a press conference in Kabul why the criteria for quarantined votes has changed from 600 per ballot box to more than 1,000, chief electoral officer Daoud Ali Najafi says the ECC just made this decision and the Afghan government's Independent Election Commission agreed to it.

"Tomorrow morning the IEC (Independent Election Commission) and ECC will meet together to establish a procedure to implement the decision," he said.

A delay in the final vote count is raising fears of further instability in a country already divided by a Taliban insurgency and smoldering ethnic tensions. Staying in power, at least for the mean time, is President Karzai. He enjoys support from his fellow Pashtuns, the country's largest ethnic group. Abdullah, of Tajik and Pashtun descent, is backed by Tajiks. If election authorities invalidate enough ballots to bring President Karzai's total below a majority then he and Abdullah would face each other in a run-off.

But that would have to happen quickly before snow fall would make many areas inaccessible for the winter. The political uncertainty comes as Afghanistan faces its worst violence since the invasion that ousted the Taliban in late 2001.

Officials say a roadside bomb in Uruzgan province, apparently meant to target Afghan and foreign troops, struck two passenger cars Saturday killing 14 civilians. Another such explosion in Kandahar province killed six civilians. Also in Kandahar two Taliban suicide bombers attacked a government intelligence office killing one agent.

In the northern part of Kunduz province, the U.S. military says, an overnight raid by Afghan and coalition forces killed 11 militants who were in possession of bomb-making material and rocket-propelled grenades.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY September 3, 2009 ~ President Hamid Karzai Extends Lead In Afghan Vote

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY September 3, 2009 ~ President Hamid Karzai Extends Lead In Afghan Vote *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - September 3, 2009: Latest Afghan vote count shows incumbent President Hamid Karzai strengthening the lead over his main rival Abdullah Abdullah in the recent presidential election. Figures released by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Wednesday showed Karzai getting 47.3 per cent of the vote. But the incumbent president was still just shy of the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off in October. This is while his main challenger and former foreign minister Abdullah has gained over 32 percent of the ballots. More than 60 percent of the ballots have been counted so far from Afghanistan's August 20 presidential election. Results are being released daily; however, it can take several weeks before the official results are announced. Abdullah has accused Karzai of a massive vote rigging and warned he would reject the result if fraud played a part in the outcome. Tribal leaders in the troubled southern provinces have accused officials of stuffing election boxes with thousands of ballots marked for incumbent Karzai, according to western press reports. Abdullah said he would examine all legal avenues to counter 'state-engineered fraud'. Abdullah has been favored by the US and other western countries to win the election and seem to be bent on questioning the elections outcome if he does not win. A similar approach was adopted when presidential elections in Iran did not turn our their way. The election in Afghanistan marks the second direct presidential vote held since US-led troops invaded the country eight years ago.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY September 2, 2009 ~ Elections Last Chance To Resolve Afghan Conflict Says Experts

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY September 2, 2009 ~ Elections Last Chance To Resolve Afghan Conflict Says Experts

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - September 2, 2009: The slow tally of Afghanistan's election returns and the mounting accusations of fraud are raising questions about credibility of the August 20 election.

Top challenger Abdullah Abdullah against President Hamid Karzai in presidential race gestures as he meets Pashtun supporters from Southern Afghanistan in Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009. Pashtuns from Southern Afghanistan rallied behind Abdullah at the meeting saying that there was widespread fraud in many southern districts where the local population could not come out to vote for fear of Taliban reprisals. Analysts in Washington warn if the election is widely viewed as illegitimate, the Obama's administration's policy in Afghanistan would suffer a major setback. As the votes continue to be tallied in Afghanistan, it is still not known if incumbent President Hamid Karzai will win outright - or face a second round against the probable runner-up, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. But amidst the vote counting, the rising claims of fraud are clouding the election. The number of fraud claims have doubled since the August 20 vote - and resolving them could even delay the announcement of official results. Some Afghan experts in Washington say all this is raising questions about the credibility of election, which they consider crucial. The experts describe it as the last chance for the international community to put the country onto a democratic path. Bruce Riedel at the Brookings Institution advises the Obama administration on Afghanistan. He says, "This really is a last chance. We have had three chances to get it right in Afghanistan. We have blown the previous two, in the 1990s and after 2001." Riedel and others say if the Afghan government is considered illegitimate, there will be repercussions for NATO and on neighboring Pakistan. "That will reinforce their deeply held belief that we [the U.S.] are going to cut and run in Afghanistan sometime in two or three years and all they need to do is to wait us out and then their Taliban friends will take over at least half of the country," Riedel said.But for a long-term success in Afghanistan, the U.S. must focus on creating legitimate government institutions in that country, says Kimberly Kagan of the Institute for the Study of War. She says the coalition forces can help with that. "The issue is that, as we saw in Iraq, that sometimes the coalition forces need to fill in when the indigenous government is not ready to perform all of the functions of building the state," she states.Restoring the Afghan people's faith in their government by defeating the insurgency is another key element, according to analysts. Kagan says one way to do this is to focus on small-scale economic projects to help alleviate poverty. "So we really need to think about how to use military resources in order to create the immediate conditions for defeating the insurgency," she adds.Bruce Riedel agrees. He says it is crucial because the Obama administration inherited an under-resourced war, and now faces the difficult task of convincing the American people that its counter-insurgency strategy is working. "This situation has deteriorated so far that there are really only two questions now," he says. "Can it be stabilized with any amount of resources or is it just too little too late?" Experts say the outcome of the elections will provide the answer to those questions. If the two leading candidates get less than 50 percent of the votes there are two scenarios: Either the two men will cut a deal to share power or there will be a second-round election. The experts say a runoff will provide credibility to the faltering democratic process in Afghanistan, and will also demonstrate that the counter-insurgency strategy of the Obama administration is working.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 29, 2009 ~ In meeting with Richard Holbrooke, Afghan President Hamid Karzai Accused US Of Pushing For Runoff

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 29, 2009 ~ In meeting with Richard Holbrooke, Afghan President Hamid Karzai Accused US Of Pushing For Runoff *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - August 29, 2009: Afghan President Hamid Karzai angrily accused the United States of pushing for a runoff in the Afghan presidential election during a heated meeting with the special envoy to the region, officials familiar with the encounter said on Friday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks with Richard Holbrooke, U.S. special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, during a meeting at the presidential palace in Kabul, Afghanistan. The reported exchange was another sign of strains between the US and Afghan authorities. An Afghan lawmaker accused the US of violating international and Islamic law by firing on a clinic where a wounded Taliban commander had taken refuge. US officials said they attacked only after taking gunfire and determining there were no civilians inside. The verbal exchange occurred the day after the August 20 election during a meeting in Kabul between Karzai and US special envoy to the region Richard Holbrooke, said two officials. They said Karzai assured Holbrooke that he would accept the poll results, but bristled when the envoy asked if he would also agree to a runoff if none of the 36 candidates won over 50 per cent, officials said.

An angry Karzai accused the US of pushing the idea of a second round even before all the votes had been counted and he would accept the Election Commission’s tabulation as long as they reflected the facts. The US Embassy confirmed the August 21 meeting and said the two discussed the election but would not go into details. “There was no shouting and no one stormed out,” said Caitlin Hayden, an embassy spokeswoman. She noted that Holbrooke and Karzai met again a few days later. “Whether there is a runoff is an issue for the Afghan electoral bodies to determine,” she added. Karzai’s office also confirmed the meeting but gave no further details.

“We are not discussing the contents of discussions that take place between the Afghan President and a foreign representative,” said spokesman for Hamid Karzai Humayun Hamidzada.

DTN News: Iran TODAY August 28, 2009 ~ President Mamoud Ahmadinejad Demands Opposition Chiefs Punished

DTN News: Iran TODAY August 28, 2009 ~ President Mamoud Ahmadinejad Demands Opposition Chiefs Punished *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN, Iran - August 28, 2009: Iran's hardline President Mamoud Ahmadinejad called for the first time on Friday for the punishment of opposition leaders over the unrest unleashed by his disputed re-election. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, delivers a speech before Friday prayers at the Tehran University campus in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Aug. 28, 2009. Iran's president Friday called for the prosecution of opposition leaders over the post election turmoil, saying that senior activists currently on trial should not be the only ones punished. "Serious confrontation should take place with the leaders and main instigators of the incidents. Those who provoked, organised and implemented the enemy's line should be confronted firmly," Ahmadinejad said in a speech at Tehran Friday prayers carried live on state radio. It is the first time Ahmadinejad has made such a call against his political opponents, who have charged his re-election was fraudulent. "Those from lower ranks and the ones who were deceived should be treated with Islamic compassion," Ahmadinejad added, drawing chants of "riot leaders should be executed" from the worshippers. Iran faced its worst crisis since the establishment of the Islamic republic in 1979 when hundreds of thousands took to the streets in week-long protests against the June 12 poll results during which about 30 people -- and by opposition accounts 69 -- were killed. About 4,000 people were initially arrested and scores of senior reformists, journalists and opposition supporters have been put on trial on accusations of seeking a "soft" overthrow of the regime with foreign backing. Opposition leaders including presidential candidates Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi have condemned the "show trials", refused to recognise Ahmadinejad's presidency and vowed to continue protests. The Islamic republic has faced further embarrassment by allegations that detained protecters have been raped and tortured. Iran shut down Kahrizak prison south of Tehran after at least two detainees died of injuries reportedly sustained in custody. Iran jailed several prison guards and vowed to prosecute them but the hardline president on Friday pointed an accusing finger at Iran's foreign enemies and the "overthrowing movement" over attacks on university dormitories and prisoner abuse. "What happened in the dorms and detention centres was part of the enemy's scenario carried out by the dependants of the overthrowing movement," he charged. "Revolutionary forces are innocent of such shameful acts. "Our basijis were beaten up in the street as they were protecting people's rights," he said of Iran's hardline Islamist militia which played a key role in stifling street protests.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 28, 2009 ~ Delay Further Muddies Confused Afghan Poll Picture

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 28, 2009 ~ Delay Further Muddies Confused Afghan Poll Picture *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - August 28, 2009: Afghan officials said on Thursday they had delayed releasing further results from the nation's disputed presidential poll, adding further confusion to a contest which appears headed for a second round. An Afghan stands in front of a poster of President Hamid Karzai on August 27, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. President Hamid Karzai extended his lead over his top challenger as new results slowly come out but he remains short of the 50 percent threshold that would allow him to avoid a Presidential runoff. An ongoing controversy over fraud threatens to discredit an election that the Obama administration considers a key step in a new strategy to turn back the Taliban insurgency. It could also delay formation of a new government and fuel growing doubts in the United States about whether its worth continuing to fight the war in Afghanistan. Votes from about 17 percent of 27,000 polling stations have been counted so far, meaning results could swing wildly in the coming days. Preliminary final results are due on September 3, with the final tally about two weeks later. Afghanistan has been in political limbo since the August 20 vote, with partial results released so far showing President Hamid Karzai leading his main rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, by about 43 percent to 34 percent. Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) said only votes from provincial council elections, held concurrently with the presidential poll a week ago, would be counted on Thursday. Adding to an already chaotic picture, computer software failures meant counting was going slower than expected, said IEC deputy head Zekria Barakzai. The election is a major test for Karzai after eight years in power and for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has poured in thousands of extra troops as part of his new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilize Afghanistan. The picture will not become any clearer for at least two days, with no counting planned for Friday, a Muslim holiday. "We will come up with new figures and information on Saturday," Barakzai told Reuters. To avoid a potentially destabilising second round run-off in October, a candidate must win more than 50 percent of the vote. The most likely outcome that can be gleaned from the partial election results released so far is that a run-off is likely, election observers say. FOREIGN TROOP DEATHS HIT 300 Security in Afghanistan has deteriorated rapidly this year, with attacks reaching their worst levels since the austere Islamist Taliban were ousted by U.S.-led Afghan forces in 2001. Violence spiked further in the weeks leading up to the poll, which the Taliban vowed to disrupt, testing Obama's new strategy and softening support for the war in the United States, but the election went ahead with relatively few attacks. However, at least 43 people were killed in a huge truck bomb blast on Tuesday in southern Kandahar city, the worst incident of its kind in more than a year. The Taliban denied responsibility for the blast. With civilian and military casualties at record levels, 2009 has become the deadliest year of the war for foreign troops. Three hundred have been killed so far this year compared with 294 in 2008, the previous worst year of the war. Another five members of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) had been killed in separate incidents over the past three days, ISAF and the U.S. military said. ISAF said in a statement 12 Taliban fighters had been killed during a raid, backed by attack helicopters, on a clinic in southeastern Paktika province on Wednesday during which a Taliban commander was detained. The Taliban commander, known as Mullah Muslim, was being treated for wounds suffered in a gunbattle with Afghan forces on election day, it said. One ISAF soldier was killed during the raid, the statement said. Two U.S. service members were killed on Wednesday, one in the east and the other in the violent south, home of the Taliban-led insurgency. One was killed by a roadside bomb, the deadliest weapon used by insurgents, and the other in a gunbattle, ISAF said in a separate statement. Another U.S. soldier was killed during an firefight with insurgents after a patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in the south earlier on Thursday, ISAF said. Another ISAF service member whose nationality was not released died on Tuesday of wounds suffered in a roadside bomb blast almost two weeks ago. More than 30,000 extra U.S. troops have landed in Afghanistan this year, most part of a package of reinforcements ordered by Obama in May. More than 100,000 Western troops are now in the country, 63,000 of them Americans.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 26, 2009 ~ Results Show Afghan Election Too Close To Call

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 26, 2009 ~ Results Show Afghan Election Too Close To Call

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - August 26, 2009: The first partial results from Afghanistan's election had President Hamid Karzai and his main rival running neck-and-neck on Tuesday, suggesting a close race headed for a second round. Afghan electoral workers tally votes in the Independent Election Commission (IEC) centre on August 25, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Initial counts show that the incumbent President Hamid Karzai holding a small lead, while chief opponent Abullah Abdullah has charged that turnout figures were exagerated and that the elections had been subject to voting misconduct. The country has been in political limbo since last Thursday's election, with Karzai and chief rival Abdullah Abdullah each claiming victory. Abdullah and other challengers have accused Karzai and the authorities of widespread fraud. The elections are a major test for Karzai after eight years in power and for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has poured in thousands of extra troops as part of his new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and stabilise Afghanistan. A relative lull in violence since the election was shattered later on Tuesday by a massive truck bomb in southern Kandahar city, the birth place of the Taliban, which killed 13 people and wounded over 30, hospital officials and police said. A witness said the blast set fire to a restaurant and levelled a shop and three houses. The blast also caused several cars to explode, leading one security source to initially say a series of simultaneous bombs had been detonated near buildings housing a Canadian development project, Afghan security forces and a Japanese contractor. "The explosive materials were stored in a truck," said Kandahar deputy police chief Ahmed Shah. There was no information immediately available on the nationality of the casualties. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the blast. ENVOY URGES CAUTION The partial election results, based on 10 percent of votes counted, gave Karzai a slight edge with 41 percent against 39 percent for Abdullah, his former foreign minister -- a difference of about 10,000 out of about 524,000 valid votes counted. U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke urged caution, saying the early results were misleading. "You don't call it with 10 percent ... it's too early to call," Holbrooke, who left Afghanistan on Monday, told reporters in Turkey. The results also suggest a disappointing turnout of only around 5 million votes in a country of some 30 million people and an estimated 15 million eligible voters. Taliban fighters had launched attacks and threatened reprisals against voters during Thursday's election, scaring many Afghans away from the polls, especially in the violent south. "We will not allow big fraud to decide the outcome. There is no doubt state-crafted widespread fraud is underway," Abdullah told reporters before the results were released by the Independent Election Commission. Abdullah said he had no plans to make a deal with Karzai to drop his bid for the presidency. "I will not make deals with anybody ... I will defend your votes," he said. Asked if the election dispute could lead to violence, he added: "I hope not." Karzai was not immediately available for comment. Election officials have cautioned against drawing conclusions about the final count from the initial small samples. They promise to provide daily updates, but the complete count is not due until Sept 3. Behind the two leaders, Ramazan Bashardost, a member of the Hazara ethnic minority who ran a quixotic campaign from a tent across the street from parliament, placed third with around 11 percent. Former finance minister Ashraf Ghani won 3 percent. DEADLIEST YEAR Four U.S. servicemen were killed by a roadside bomb in the south, NATO and the U.S. military said earlier on Tuesday, making 2009 the deadliest year for the growing contingent of foreign troops in eight years of war. More than 30,000 extra U.S. troops arrived in Afghanistan this year, most part of a package of reinforcements ordered by Obama in May amid a growing Taliban insurgency. There are now more than 100,000 Western troops in the country, 63,000 of them Americans. The number of foreign troops killed in Afghanistan this year stands at 295, according to icasualties.org, a website which compiles official figures. Last year, 294 died. The U.S. reinforcements sent by Obama, along with a British contingent already deployed in the south, have advanced deep into formerly Taliban-held territory, taking heavy casualties mainly from roadside bombs. More Western troops have died since March than in the entire period from 2001-2004. Karzai, who was installed in an international agreement after the Taliban were toppled in 2001 and who won the country's first presidential election in 2004, has been keen to win an outright majority and avoid a potentially destabilising run-off.

DTN News: Taliban Failed Miserably To Crash Election ~ Top soldier

DTN News: Taliban Failed Miserably To Crash Election ~ Top soldier

*Source: DTN News / The Vancouver Sun By Matthew Fisher, Canwest News Service August 20, 2009 (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - August 23, 2009: After "some pretty grand pronouncements" the Taliban "failed miserably" to make good on their boast to destroy Afghanistan's presidential election, Canada's top soldier in Afghanistan said Thursday. A laborer stands in between stacks of ballot boxes at the Independent Election Commission in Kabul August 23, 2009. Afghanistan's presidential election was generally fair but not entirely free because of Taliban intimidation and violence that kept turnout low in the south, European monitors said on Saturday. "There was not one single suicide attack today in Kandahar province on a day where suicide attacks were threatened on a massive scale by the insurgency," said Brig.-Gen. Jon Vance, who commands Canada's 2,800 troops in South Asia. The Taliban also harmed their reputation by firing rockets "indiscriminately" at Kandahar City and by hitting a revered Islamic shrine in Arghandab with a rocket, the general said. In the face of Taliban threats, voter turnout was uneven but apparently much higher than many had thought possible after recent terror attacks in Kabul. An election official in Kandahar, which is at the heart of the insurgency, said about 60% of the province's 790,000 voters had cast ballots, with relatively heavy voting in urban areas and lighter voting in the Taliban-infested countryside. Tasked to back up Afghan forces who were responsible for security at polling stations, Vance noted that his soldiers were not asked once to help out. However, he acknowledged that there had been several instances of heavy fighting between the Canadian Forces and the Taliban. More than 50 insurgents engaged troops from the Quebec-based Royal 22nd Regiment battle group in a gunfight that lasted several hours at Forward Operating Base Wilson, to the west of Kandahar City, while other Canadians mentoring Afghan troops in Arghandab were also involved in serious battles, Vance said. In both cases the insurgents had been trying to reach the provincial capital and had been "stopped cold," he said, adding there were no Canadian casualties. Canadian helicopters had also been called in on both reconnaissance and attack missions during the day, the general said. Speaking in Pangnirtung, Nunavut, Prime Minister Stephen Harper commented: "For all its warts, when you look at a country that had virtually 30 years of civil war without any real history of democratic governance, what is taking place in Afghanistan, in spite of all its challenges, is remarkable. And I think we owe all of our Canadian personnel in Afghanistan -- our military people, but also our civilian personnel as well -- a tremendous credit for the progress that has been made for this to happen." Afghan President Hamid Karzai's lead in the polls, such as they are in Afghanistan, has narrowed considerably in recent weeks, but he remains the odds-on favourite to win again. With the successful completion of voting, the next big question as votes began to be tabulated was whether the incumbent had received the 50% of the votes, plus one, that is required to avoid a runoff. If Karzai falls short of getting more than half the ballots cast, his likely challenger in a runoff would be Abdullah Abdullah, his former foreign minister. Preliminary results may be known by this weekend. But given Afghanistan's immensely challenging geography and the strength of the insurgency, it may take nearly a month before the official first-round tally is made public.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 21, 2009 ~ President Hamid Karzai And Rival Abdullah Abdullah Claim Victory In Afghan Vote

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 21, 2009 ~ President Hamid Karzai And Rival Abdullah Abdullah Claim Victory In Afghan Vote *Source: DTN News / Reuters By Sayed Salahuddin and Jonathon Burch (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanista - August 21, 2009: President Hamid Karzai's campaign and chief rival Abdullah Abdullah both said on Friday they had won Afghanistan's election, but Washington's chief envoy warned candidates not to declare victory prematurely. Karzai's campaign manager and Abdullah both said preliminary, unofficial results showed they had won enough votes to avoid a potentially destabilizing second round of voting in October. Election officials said no confirmed results had been released. Election workers count provincial votes at a school, a day after Afghanistan's presidential election, in Kabul August 21, 2009. "Initial results show that the president has got a majority," Karzai's campaign manager Deen Mohammad told Reuters. "We will not get to a second round. We have got a majority." Abdullah, Karzai's former foreign minister, dismissed the Karzai camp's victory claim and said he was on track to win in the first round after Thursday's vote, which went ahead despite sporadic violence after the Taliban threatened the vote. "I'm ahead. Initial results from the provinces show that I have more than 50 percent of the vote," Abdullah told Reuters by telephone in Kabul. Official preliminary results are not due for two weeks, but counting began immediately after polls closed on Thursday and is largely complete. Analysts have warned that uncertainty over the outcome or accusations of widespread fraud could lead to civil unrest. U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said he was certain the outcome of the vote would be disputed. "We always knew it would be a disputed election. I would not be surprised if you see candidates claiming victory and fraud in the next few days," Holbrooke said at a briefing in Kabul with election observers. Holbrooke said he Washington had an "agnostic" position and did not support any early, unofficial victory declarations. A U.S. embassy spokeswoman said only the Independent Election Commission (IEC) was in a position to announce results and anything else was "just speculation." Polls conducted before the election showed Karzai in the lead but suggested he would not win more than 50 percent of the vote needed to avoid a run-off. The Karzai campaign's estimate of victory was based on reports from nearly 29,000 monitors the campaign had at polling stations throughout the country, Mohammad said. Afghan officials and their U.S. protectors have breathed a sigh of relief after the relatively peaceful election. PATIENCE URGED The 6,200 polling stations are required to make their results available to the public as they tabulate them to prevent fraud.

Zekria Barakzai, deputy head of the IEC, urged patience. "We cannot confirm any claims by campaigning managers. It's the job of the election commission to declare the results. They should be patient," Barakzai said. Dawood Ali Najafi, another IEC official, said it was too early to say whether there would be a run-off because not all results had been received from Afghanistan's 34 provinces. An independent Afghan monitoring body, FEFA, said it was concerned about the quality of the poll after receiving reports from its observers across the country of fraud and interference. Barakzai said two convoys of election workers transporting ballot boxes had been attacked following the vote. In one case, in Balkh province in the north, an election worker was killed and ballots that had already been counted were burned. He said preliminary figures showed overall turnout was around 40-50 percent. This would be roughly in line with estimates by Western diplomats before the poll. Much is likely to depend on turnout in southern areas, such as Karzai's home province of Kandahar, where the president draws his strongest support but where voters faced the brunt of Taliban attacks and intimidation. Abdullah's spokesman, Fazl Sangcharaki, said the north had voted solidly for Abdullah, except in Jowzjan province, home of Uzbek militia chieftain Abdul Rashid Dostum, who returned to the country days before the vote to campaign for Karzai. Western backers have expressed concern about Karzai's tactic of seeking support from former militia chiefs, afraid that deals made to secure votes could bring warlords back to power. In Washington, President Barack Obama hailed the conduct of the election and vowed to press on with his strategy, which has involved sending thousands of additional troops to the country. "We have to focus on finishing the job in Afghanistan but it is going to take some time," Obama said from the White House. The election was a test for Obama's new strategy aimed at reversing Taliban gains. U.S. combat casualties have risen amid a U.S. troop buildup and opinion polls have shown weakening American backing for the war. (Writing by Paul Tait; Editing by Alex Richardson)

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 20, 2009 ~ Violence Forces Polls To Shut Amid Low Afghan Turnout

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 20, 2009 ~ Violence Forces Polls To Shut Amid Low Afghan Turnout *Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - August 20, 2009: A Taliban assault forced the closure of polling stations in one northern town today but nervous Afghans continued to vote across most of the country in a presidential election that pits their faith in democracy against their fears of militant violence. Afghan women line up to vote at a local mosque used as a polling station August 20, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Afghans voted Thursday to elect a president for the second time in history with election officials stating that turnout was healthy despite sporadic violence by the Taliban. The incumbent President Karzai is considered to be the frontrunner despite claims of corruption and what many consider an ineffectual government. As electoral officials prepared to close the voting booths, reports of violence remained sporadic but there appeared to be a low turn out, with many saying they were too disillusioned or too frightened - especially by a Taliban threat to cut off voters' index fingers, which are marked with indelible ink. Kabul, the capital, was quiet but tense with shops and businesses closed and thousands of extra police manning checkpoints around the city, and searching the few cars and pedestrians moving around. President Hamid Karzai – who is favourite to win the election but may be forced into a second round run-off - cast his vote in a boys' high school near his heavily fortified palace. "I request my dear countrymen to come out and cast their vote to decide their future," he said, adding that he was not worried about violence. The most significant attack came in northern Baghlan province where militants stormed the town, killing the Baghlan police chief and sparking heavy clashes with security forces. Reports indicated that between six and 22 Taliban insurgents were killed but it is not clear whether polling had restarted before the scheduled end of voting. The head of the country’s Independent Election Commission said officials had been told to find cover but they would reopen the ballot as soon as possible. “We had to tell our people to save your [ballot] boxes and save yourselves,” Azizullah Lodin said. In the southern city of Kandahar, a mortar attack hit the house of the Provincial Governor, Tooryalai Wesa, at around 3.30am and two rockets hit the city at about 6.30 am, according to local security monitors. “Yes, rockets have landed," Mr Wesa told reporters after casting his vote. Witnesses reported hearing two blasts, and local security sources said four people were injured. Skirmishes were also reported across Kandahar, where streets were largely deserted, and several improvised explosive devices (IEDs) were found and destroyed outside polling stations, the security monitors said. More explosions were heard later, and one Taliban commander told Afghan media by telephone: "The situation will get worse. We are trying our best." The Taliban also fired rockets and attacked one polling station in the northern city of Kunduz, the local police chief, Abdul Razaq told reporters. He said no civilians were hurt, but police killed one militant and arrested two others. U.S. Marine Sgt. Raymond Shinahra, right, of Guam, and Navy Corpsman Michael Cannova, both attached to Golf Company, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Regiment, 2nd MEB, 3rd MEF, carry a box full of presidential ballots delivered by Marine helicopters from election headquarters in Lashkar Gah to election officials in Dahaneh Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009, in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. Officials in the village had discovered early in the morning that they were lacking any presidential ballots and could not open the voting process without them. The Taleban warned yesterday that 20 of its suicide bombers had infiltrated Kabul, and other militants were blocking roads across the country to stop people from voting.

There were no signs of such activity today, but many of the country's 15 million registered voters appeared to be staying away from the roughly 6,500 polling stations during early voting. Tim Fairbank, an election observer with US-based Democracy International, said he had visited four polling stations in the eastern city of Jalalabad, but only a few hundred people had voted there. "The polls opened a bit late, but voter turnout seems to be quite low," he said. "A lot of people have told us they were afraid to vote, and afraid to have their fingers dipped in ink because of the Taliban's threats." He said local turnout was expected to be no more than 20-30 per cent, but the government was expected to claim it was more like 60 per cent in the area, which voted overwhelmingly for Mr Karzai at the last presidential election in 2004. Mr Karzai, who came to power after US-led forces toppled the Taliban government in 2001, is widely expected to win the second presidential election in Afghanistan’s history despite international disillusion with his government. But he faces an unexpectedly strong challenge from Dr Abdullah Abdullah, his former Foreign Minister, and is expected to fall short of the outright majority needed to secure a victory in the first round. Analysts say Mr Karzai’s support could be depressed by low voter turnout in the unstable south, which is dominated by the ethnic Pashtun majority that rallied behind him in 2004. Turn-out appeared higher in northern areas where Mr Abdullah is expected to do well. Many expect Mr Karzai’s own allies to try to compensate for that by stuffing ballot boxes in areas where there are few voters and no election monitors. US and British officials say there may be some violence and electoral fraud, but not enough to invalidate the vote and undermine their efforts to defeat the Taliban. About 300,000 Afghan and foreign troops are being deployed for today’s vote, although international forces are keeping away from polling stations to avoid becoming a magnet for Taliban attacks. The Ministry of Defence announced today that a Chinook helicopter had been forced into an emergency landing in Helmand province last night after a possible Taliban attack. The British crew survived unharmed. The Afghan government has been trying to negotiate truces with local Taliban commanders who may be reluctant to cause civilian casualties in their own neighbourhoods.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 16, 2009 ~ Tight Security In Place For Elections Day In Afghanistan

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 16, 2009 ~ Tight Security In Place For Elections Day In Afghanistan

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - August 16, 2009: Top government officials responsible for security in Afghanistan say there is no way to ensure the Taliban will not be able to cause civilian casualties before the election or on the day of voting.

An Afghan woman passes a policeman keeping guard in a wheat field for a campaign rally nearby for Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Bamiyan, located in central Afghanistan August 16, 2009. Afghanistan is scheduled to hold it's presidential elections on August 20.

Afghanistan's military is declaring a one-day unilateral cease-fire for election day Thursday, saying troops will only take defensive positions to prevent Taliban violence against polling stations. Afghan soldiers walking on patrol in KabulThe top government ministers responsible for security are defending their efforts four days before the presidential election and one day after a Taliban suicide car bombing in the capital. The attack outside the front gates of NATO headquarters in the most heavily guarded part of the capital killed seven people and injured nearly 100. Speaking to reporters, the interior minister, the defense minister and the national security chief gave no promises there will not be another such event this week, but said they are doing their best to protect voters. Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar says 62 attempted attacks were thwarted in Kabul in the last six months, but the 63rd succeeded. "Such terrorist attacks will not break the resolve of our nation. They [voters] will go to polling stations. They will vote for the person of their choice," said Atmar.

"And they will show again and demonstrate their remarkable courage and resilience."

The defense minister, General Abdul Rahim Wardak, noted that even nations with "100-fold" more security resources, mentioning the United States, Britain, Spain, India, Indonesia and Pakistan, have not been able to prevent all attempted terrorist attacks. General Wardak explained that, on election day, the domestic and international forces are preparing "for the worst possible scenario" and will have four-tiers of security in place. The international forces will handle the two outer tiers on the ground and in the air for the thousands of polling stations nationwide.

The defense minister expresses hope all "arrangements, planning, rehearsals and exercises" will adequately secure all the nearly 29,000 voting sites. "There is no doubt that the total security forces of the international community and the Afghans are not enough to cover this much of area and this much of population based on the requirement mentioned in the counter-insurgency manuals," said Wardak. "But still we will do our best."

The four-star general also announced a unilateral cease-fire on election day, saying Afghan forces will only be on the defensive to prevent violence. The Taliban are vowing to attack polling places and disrupt the election process.

An estimated 17 million Afghans are eligible to vote. The legitimacy of the election depends on a sufficient turnout. Voters have several dozen presidential candidates to choose among, including the favorite and incumbent, Mr. Hamid Karzai. More than 400 councilor seats in 34 province are also being contested.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 15, 2009 ~ Car Bomb Explodes In Kabul Outside NATO HQ, Near US Embassy

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 15, 2009 ~ Car Bomb Explodes In Kabul Outside NATO HQ, Near US Embassy

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - August 15, 2009: A suicide bomber in the Afghan capital, Kabul, blew up a car in a heavily fortified section of the city. At least seven people were killed and 91 others wounded, including children in an attack that comes five days before Afghanistan's presidential election.

A British soldier and an Afghan soldier secure the site of the blast in front of the NATO headquarters in Kabul August 15, 2009. The Taliban claimed responsibility for a large suicide car bomb that detonated on Saturday in the heart of the Afghan capital's most secure neighbourhood just five days before an election the Islamist group has vowed to disrupt. Afghanistan's Defence Ministry said at least four people were killed and 91 wounded in the blast, which hit outside the sprawling headquarters of the NATO-led international force, near the U.S. embassy, in Kabul.

Afghan and NATO authorities say the car exploded on the road in front of the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Force, near the U.S. Embassy and the Presidential Palace. NATO says some ISAF soldiers are among the wounded.

But most of the casualties appear to be Afghan civilians, including children who congregate in the area to sell chewing gum to passersby. An ambulance driver told VOA he saw numerous dead and injured. He says all of the people he transported were civilians, including women.

Bloodied and dazed wounded stood near firemen who extinguished the flames coming from the vehicle that had detonated. Windows of nearby shops were shattered. The force of the blast rattled windows several kilometers away and sent a plume of smoke into the Saturday morning sky.

It is the first such attack in Kabul in six months, although this month a barrage of rockets was launched at the capital, most landing harmlessly. A man in Kabul passes an election poster of Afghan presidential candidate and current Pres. Hamid Karzai, 14 Aug 2009Kabul police criminal investigations director, Brigadier-General Sayed Abdul Ghaffar, tells reporters at the scene this is obviously a suicide car bombing.

General Ghaffar says the identity of the bomber will be difficult to ascertain because he blew himself into many pieces, but investigators hope to arrest his accomplices. Taliban claims responsibility

The Taliban, in phone calls to news agencies, claimed responsibility for the car bomb, saying it contained 500 kilograms of explosives and the intended target was the U.S. Embassy. Embassy spokesperson Fleur Cowen says the American diplomatic compound was not hit.

Cowan said, "I was in my office when a blast occurred a little after 8:30 a.m. and I certainly heard it but I didn't feel anything.

We're still gathering information, however, to the best of our knowledge all U.S. Embassy personnel have been accounted for and there has been no damage to the Embassy." General Ghaffar acknowledges the attackers were able to penetrate an area of the capital that is supposed to be heavily secure, less than a week before Afghans go to the polls for the first national election since 2004. Officials urge Afghans to vote

The police official says this suicide bombing should not deter Afghans from voting or derail the election.

President Hamid Karzai, running for re-election, earlier in the week urged citizens not to be intimidated by Taliban threats to attack voting sites and disrupt balloting.

A successful election is considered as a key test for this country's fledgling democracy and the ability of the joint Afghan and international forces to provide adequate security.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 15, 2009 ~ Poll Shows President Hamid Karzai Leading Ahead Of Afghan Election

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 15, 2009 ~ Poll Shows President Hamid Karzai Leading Ahead Of Afghan Election

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media (NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - August 15, 2009: KABUL - President Hamid Karzai holds a strong lead in the Afghan presidential race but is still short of the majority he needs for a first-round victory, according to a poll released Friday with less than a week to go before the balloting. Afghan children play near a election poster of President Hamid Karzai on August 14, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. 41 Candidates are due to run off for Afghanistan's presidential elections which are to be held on August 20. The incumbent president Karzai is considered to be the frontrunner despite claims of corruption and what many consider an ineffectual government. The poll by a U.S. government-funded group suggests turnout will be crucial, especially in the Pashtun south _ the president's support base where Taliban fighters have been warning voters to stay away from the polls. Ahead of next Thursday's vote, there are fears that election tension could boil over into street violence if presidential losers allege massive fraud. Opposition candidates have been accusing Karzai and his team of using state resources to ensure re-election. Local and international monitors are convinced there will be voter irregularities. According to the latest poll, Karzai remains the leading candidate in a crowded field of three dozen contenders with about 44 percent support, a rise of 13 percentage points from a poll conducted in May. Karzai's main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, trailed at 26 percent _ a dramatic increase over the 7 percent he received in the May poll. If no candidate wins over 50 percent of the vote, the top two finishers will face a run-off in early October. That could lead to a coalition uniting around a single candidate to try to defeat Karzai. The poll, based on face-to-face interviews with 2,400 people between July 16 and 26, was funded by the International Republican Institute, a non-governmental group that receives money from USAID, the U.S. government aid arm. The poll had a margin of error of 2 percentage points. Karzai, meanwhile, took his campaign Friday to the western city of Herat, where he won the public endorsement of Energy Minister Ismail Khan, the political czar of the region. Karzai told a crowd of several thousand that if re-elected, his first priority would be to initiate talks with the Taliban and other insurgent groups. About 90 percent of the respondents in the latest poll said they planned to vote, despite Taliban threats to disrupt the balloting. Election authorities have said about 10 percent of nearly 7,000 polling centers will likely remain shut, most of them because of bad security. The threat is the greatest in the south and east, where the country's ethnic Pashtuns live. Karzai, himself a Pashtun, could see his totals lowered if insurgent violence keeps Afghans there from voting. In an effort to encourage voting, village elders in the south are trying to broker election day cease-fire agreements with Taliban commanders, according to Karzai's brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai. "Local elders in some of the far-flung villages are just meeting with some small group commanders to not bother people during elections and let them vote," he told The Associated Press. However, a Taliban spokesman denied any talks were under way. "We are denying any deals with anyone," Taliban spokesman Qari Yusuf Ahmedi told the AP by telephone. "Don't listen to those liars. There is no truth to any talk of a cease-fire. People should not go to vote. The Taliban has no agreement with the government." In the southern province of Helmand, U.S. Marines have been trying to secure the strategic town of Dahaneh to cut Taliban supply lines and enable the government to open a polling station there. After two days of fighting, Marines helped Afghan officers raise the Afghan flag over the town Friday after tribal elders assured the Americans there were no Taliban left there. Soon after the flag-raising ceremony, the Marine base in the town came under small arms, machine gun and rocket-propelled grenade fire, sending Marines running for cover. A patrol was sent out to find the gunmen and ended up locked in a lengthy gunfight which continued into the night. Elsewhere, a suicide bomber attacked an Afghan army base in southern Afghanistan on Friday, killing a soldier and wounding four other people, an official said. The bomber rammed his vehicle into the base's gate in Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, said Daud Ahmadi, the provincial governor's spokesman. Three civilians and a soldier were among the wounded, he said. In the capital, meanwhile, two rockets were fired at Kabul's airport Friday but caused no damage or casualties, said U.S. military spokesman Chief Petty Officer Brian Naranjo. It was the second rocket attack on the capital this month. Taliban militants took responsibility for the previous attack. Kabul is heavily guarded by Afghan security forces, and authorities say rockets fired from a distance are the only weapon insurgents can use against the capital.

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 11, 2009 ~ President Hamid Karzai Leading In Afghan Voter Survey

DTN News: Afghanistan TODAY August 11, 2009 ~ President Hamid Karzai Leading In Afghan Voter Survey

*Source: DTN News / Int'l Media

(NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - August 11, 2009: A U.S. government-funded survey of Afghan voters released Monday shows President Hamid Karzai with a substantial lead just 10 days before the country's presidential election, but still short of the support needed to avoid a run-off. Afghan President Hamid Karzai who is also a presidential candidate in the upcoming election, speaks during a gathering to mark International Youth Day in Kabul, Afghanistan on Tuesday, Aug. 11, 2009. The poll shows Karzai with 36 percent support among all the voters surveyed. His closest competitor former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah has 20 percent support. Twenty percent of voters were undecided or refused to answer, while 23 percent supported other candidates. Among voters who have already decided, Karzai had the support of 45 percent of respondents; Abdullah had 25 percent support. If no candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in the Aug. 20 election, the top two finishers go to a run-off. The survey is the first to be conducted in the country since campaigning began and provides the first look at how the candidates are faring. Most observers have felt that Karzai is likely to win a second five-year term, though Abdullah has attracted large and energetic crowds at some campaign events. A poll in May before campaigning began showed Abdullah with just 7 percent support. Karzai's campaign spokesman, Waheed Omar, said the poll underscored what the campaign believes is a large gap in support between Karzai and Abdullah. But he said the president's campaign believes Karzai can win 50 percent of the vote and avoid a run-off. A spokesman for Abdullah dismissed the results but said the campaign would be ready to take on Karzai in a run-off. The U.S.-funded poll was carried out by Glevum Associates, a Washington-based communications firm that has done survey work for the U.S. government and military. The poll surveyed 3,556 voting-age Afghans nationwide in mid-July and has a margin of sampling error of 1.6 percent. The survey was representative of Afghanistan's ethnic groups but polled slightly fewer females than males. The third-place candidate in the poll was Ramazan Bashardost, a parliamentarian and former minister. Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani was fourth with 3 percent support. The poll found that 74 percent of Afghans said they would vote in next week's election, though the number dropped to around 50 percent in the south, where insurgent violence is highest. A lower turnout in the south _ where most are ethnic Pashtuns, like Karzai _ will likely hurt the president's results. U.S., NATO and Afghan forces are working to keep the vote safe from attacks by Taliban militants, who have vowed to disrupt the election and have warned Afghans not to take part. Despite the threats, the poll found that 79 percent of Afghans were certain or fairly certain the vote would be secure, though that number dropped somewhat in the south. Some 65 percent of Afghans said the country was heading in the right direction. At least one more poll is expected to be released before next week's election.

DTN News: Japan Prime Minister Dissolves Parliament Ahead Of Election

DTN News: Japan Prime Minister Dissolves Parliament Ahead Of Election *Source: DTN News / AFP (NSI News Source Info) TOKYO, Japan - July 21, 2009: Japan's unpopular Prime Minister Taro Aso dissolved parliament Tuesday, paving the way for an election late next month seen likely to end his party's more than half century of almost unbroken rule. Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso bows as he attends the House of Representatives plenary session to approve his dissolution of the parliament in Tokyo. Japan's unpopular premier dissolved parliament paving the way for an election late next month seen likely to end his party's more than half century of almost unbroken rule. The embattled Aso, who is lagging badly in opinion polls and has struggled to quell internal party revolt, offered a rare apology to his conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) for the government's sagging support. "My statements and what have been characterised as my changing policy positions have led the Japanese people to worry about and grow distrustful of politics," Aso said shortly before the lower house was dissolved. "As a result, the approval rating for the Liberal Democratic Party has fallen. I am deeply sorry," said the 68-year-old premier. Several recent surveys have put support for Aso in the high teens, and most pundits expect the main opposition group, the as yet untested Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), to win the general election on August 30. Aso's LDP lost four percentage points to 20 percent from two weeks ago while support for the DPJ rose by six points to 31 percent, according to the latest poll, conducted by the Asahi Shimbun newspaper at the weekend. A succession of local election defeats, most recently in key Tokyo assembly polls this month, has prompted rebel members of the LDP to try to push Aso out of power so the party can face the election under another leader. The premier's allies and party leaders have tried to ease the internal dispute, and Aso on Tuesday vowed to stay on as party chief, but discontent is simmering among many ruling party lawmakers who are likely to lose their seats. Aso -- a political blueblood from a top industrial family, known for his gruff demeanor -- tried his best to rally the troops Tuesday. "Let me express my determination to lead all of you to fight the current tough situation," Aso told his fellow LDP lawmakers. "My sole wish is that all of our candidates here for the lower house election shall return to this place. To achieve this goal, there is no other way but to form a united front and fight together." Aso was to face the press later in the day. The premier -- who took office in September as the world's number two economy was sliding deep into recession amid the global downturn -- was likely to highlight his economic stimulus measures in appealing to voters. The DPJ, led by fellow political blueblood and US university trained engineer Yukio Hatoyama, has promised reforms, including strengthening social welfare and reducing the influence of the powerful state bureacracy. "This general election is not only about ending the LDP's rule," Hatoyama told a news conference. "This is an important revolutionary vote to create a new Japan with politician-led politics. "We need to tackle the election with the sense of a historic mission." Finance Minister Kaoru Yosano charged that a giddy DPJ was already "opening a bottle of champagne and celebrating" every night, challenging them to offer a detailed policy platform and explain how it would be financed. The LDP has governed Japan continuously since the party's foundation in 1955, except for one 10-month stretch in the early 1990s. But the party has suffered a leadership crisis in recent years, electing three prime ministers since the popular Junichiro Koizumi stepped down in 2006. The LDP lost to the DPJ in a 2007 upper house election. Since then, the opposition has controlled the less powerful upper house. Before the dissolution, Aso's LDP held 303 seats in the lower house with 31 held by its sole coalition partner, New Komeito. The opposition DPJ had 112 seats, the Communist Party nine, and the Social Democratic Party seven.

DTN News: Iran Puts Curbs On Media After Disputed Election

DTN News: Iran Puts Curbs On Media After Disputed Election

*Sources: Int'l Media / AP By Sally Buzbee

(NSI News Source Info) CAIRO - June 15, 2009: Iranian authorities criticized international media reports and took steps to control the flow of information from independent news sources as anti-government protests raged in the country for a second day Sunday. Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad smiles as he answers questions during his first news conference after the presidential elections in Tehran June 14, 2009. The British Broadcasting Co. said that electronic jamming of its news report, which it said began on election day Friday, had worsened by Sunday, causing service disruptions for BBC viewers and listeners in Iran, the Middle East and Europe. It said it had traced the jamming of the satellite signal broadcasting its Farsi-language service to a spot inside Iran. "It seems to be part of a pattern of behavior by the Iranian authorities to limit the reporting of the aftermath of the disputed election," said Peter Horrocks, the director of BBC World Service in London. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at the media shortly after he claimed victory in the election that critics contend was marked by widespread voter fraud. At a news conference Sunday, he accused international media of launching a "psychological war" against the country. Street protests broke out in Tehran and were fiercely battled by anti-riot police. A range of communications have been disrupted inside Iran since election day, including those which could be used to organize protests. Iran restored cell phone service Sunday that had been down in the capital since Saturday. But Iranians still could not send text messages from their mobile phones, and the government increased its Internet filtering in an apparent attempt to undercut opposition voices. Social networking sites including Facebook and Twitter were also not working. Iran's government has not commented on the restrictions but has accused international media of exaggerating the extent of the street protests in Tehran and of trying to destabilize the government. Iran regulates and monitors the activities of international and independent media operating within its borders, and it closely watches and guides its own internal state media. Many reformist newspapers, magazines and Web sites have emerged in the past decade, but often come under restrictions or are shut down. International media normally are allowed to work without censorship in Iran, subject to certain rules, such as seeking advance permission to travel to certain locations outside the capital or to interview government officials. But Iran is more sensitive about news reports or blogs and Internet communications in Farsi, apparently concerned about the effect on its internal political situation. On Saturday, Iranian officials contacted television journalists for The Associated Press in Iran and warned that the government would enforce an existing law banning provision of news video to the Farsi-language services of the BBC and the Voice of America. Both agencies broadcast to Iranians via satellite in their own language. AP employees then contacted the BBC and VOA to discuss the order. "It is the AP practice to comply with local laws regarding media. We are nonetheless determined to continue to provide accurate coverage of events in Iran," said AP's Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll. There were a variety of other clamp-down steps affecting both international and domestic news organizations. For instance, officials telephoned several visiting international journalists with visas to cover the elections and told them that their visas would not be extended after the vote, a courtesy often offered in the past. Two other international news agencies that operate in Iran, Reuters and Agence France-Press, declined comment. Neither reported any restrictions on their journalists. Iranian supporters of defeated Iranian presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi are followed by Iranian riot-police in front of Tehran university during riots in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 14, 2009. Iranian youth opposed to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took to the streets Sunday, setting trash dumpsters and tires on fire, in a second day of clashes triggered by voter fraud claims. A spokesman for the Swedish network SVT, Geronimo Akerlund, said its reporter, Lena Pettersson, had been asked to "leave Iran as soon as possible because the elections are over." Dubai-based news network Al Arabiya said the station's correspondent in Tehran was given a verbal order from Iranian authorities that its office would be closed for one week, said Executive News Editor Nabil Khatib. No reason was given, but the station was warned several times Saturday that it needed to be careful in reporting "chaos" accurately, he said. German television network ZDF said Sunday on air that its reporter in Iran and other reporters were being "prevented from doing their jobs in a massive form." The network said it was unable to show a broadcast feed from the network's correspondent depicting protests. Italian state TV RAI said one of its crews was caught in a street clash. An Iranian interpreter was beaten with clubs by riot police and officers confiscated the cameraman's videotapes, the station said. Within Iran, state-run newspapers carried no news Sunday about the widespread street clashes the day before. But on Sunday, state TV showed some video footage from the two days of protests. A newspaper started by the main reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, did not appear on newsstands Sunday. An editor, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, said the paper, called Kalemeh Sabz or the Green Word, never left the printing house because authorities were upset with Mousavi's statements after the elections. The paper's Web site reported that more than 10 million votes in Friday's election were missing national identification numbers, data which make the votes "untraceable." It did not say how it knew that information. At his news conference, Ahmadinejad made light of restrictions on the press and media. "Don't worry about freedom in Iran," he said. "Newspapers come and go and reappear. Don't worry about it."

DTN News: A Devastating Defeat For Iran's Green Revolution

DTN News: A Devastating Defeat For Iran's Green Revolution

*Sources: DTN News / Ian Black in Tehran The Observer (NSI News Source Info) TEHRAN - June 14, 2009: After an election campaign of unprecedented hope and passion, the official result shattered those who had longed for reform. Now, while millions still give their support to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an opposition backlash fuelled by bitter accusations of government lies could tear the nation apart. A supporter of Iran's moderate presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi holds a piece of paper that reads "We write Mousavi, they read Ahmadinejad" during post-election unrest in Tehran June 13, 2009. Thousands of people clashed with police on Saturday after the disputed election victory of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sparked the biggest protests in Tehran since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Nowhere in Iran is as symbolic of the country's turbulent history as the huge Azadi (Freedom) Monument, with its vaulting, marble-clad concrete arches and inlaid peacock-blue tiles visible from anywhere in Tehran. Built by the shah to symbolize the glories of Ancient Persia, it was there that a crowd of millions roared their acclaim of Ayatollah Khomeini when he returned from exile in 1979 to launch the Islamic revolution. And as Khomeini's heirs held Iran's 10th presidential election on Friday, two young soldiers stood in the monument's mercifully cooling shade and argued about who to vote for. Private Mohsen Khodabaksh, in an ill-fitting khaki uniform, had already chosen Mir Hussein Mousavi, the moderate candidate and great hope of millions of Iranians desperate to see change in the Islamic Republic. "He is going to give freedoms to young people and get rid of the morality police," the conscript explained. Mohammed Khorasani, his equally scruffy friend, was backing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. "He's been good for the last four years," was his verdict. And if a second term for the hardliner brought further isolation for Iran? "Everything depends on God's will. If there is a war, we will defend our country." Arguments like those were pondered by millions of voters before they flocked to the polling stations in unprecedented numbers. But, contrary to all predictions and stretching credulity far beyond breaking point, Ahmadinejad emerged on top amid fury over both the conduct of the poll and its result. The disillusionment on the streets of Tehran yesterday was extreme. Several hundred demonstrators, many wearing the green colours of Mousavi's campaign, chanted "The government lied to the people," gathering near the Interior Ministry as the final controversial count was announced. Elsewhere in Tehran, up to 300 young people blocked the avenue by forming a human chain and chanted "Ahmadi, shame on you. Leave the government alone." One news agency reported that a senior policeman told demonstrators: "The time of dancing and shouting is over." "It's such a cheek, it's impossible for it to stand," argued a woman photographer from a north Tehran suburb. "If they don't fix it, it will erode any legitimacy that is left for the Islamic Republic. " The drama came at the end of an extraordinary week that seemed to promise a new politics for Iran and an end to the mass apathy that allowed the populist Ahmadinejad to take power in 2005. The previous record turnout was in 1997, when reformist cleric Mohammad Khatami - who is now backing Mousavi - was elected and ushered in a period of optimism and change. Mousavi's slick, youth-driven "green" campaign - the colour is for Islam and hope - galvanised demands for a stabler economy, more liberty at home and easier relations abroad. Night after night tens of thousands of his supporters rallied in a party atmosphere without a single policeman or militiaman in sight as a river of green clothes, armbands and banners - as well as cars and bikes - swept up Valiasr Avenue, Tehran's main north-south thoroughfare. Some young women even cast off their hijab headscarves and danced with men - unthinkable public behaviour in normal times. It was inspiring to see this show of peaceful, if raucous, people power, driven by youthful high spirits. But there was also a warning that the authorities seem to have ignored. "If there's cheating," went one popular slogan, "there'll be rioting." The menacing black-clad police deployed on Valiasr last night showed that it was being taken seriously. Hopes were high that Mousavi, with his high-profile wife, Zahra Rahnavard, alongside him, would be a president who would emulate Khatami and ease social restrictions, especially for women, as well as improve Iran's international standing. "I think there will be more freedom," said a smiling Soraya Sohrabinejad, 21, draped in a fetching green tunic and the flimsiest of hijabs at the challenger's final campaign rally. But excitement and wishful thinking may have combined with an underestimation of the scale of possible electoral fraud, though there were warning signs there, too: a senior ayatollah was rumoured to have issued a fatwa sanctioning moves to ensure victory for Ahmadinejad, and Mousavi supporters were advised to vote in schools rather than mosques or Basij militia offices. Mohamed Atrianfar, a leading reformist commentator, said that he was certain Mousavi would prevail, with even sections of the military backing him. "We hope to be able to forget the Ahmadinejad years and connect the end of the Khatami period with the start of the Mousavi period," he said. Still, alongside such optimism it was clear that Ahmadinejad was still the object of adulation for traditional supporters in the countryside, small towns and poor areas of south Tehran. "I like his background, what he has done, and his pure intentions," said shoemaker Mohammed Sadegh, 73, voting before attending Friday prayers at the university mosque near his home. "He is a real Hezbollahi [fighter in the 'party of God']. It's true there has been inflation in the last few years, but the president has raised the wages of government employees and helped them. And from the point of view of the Iranian people, he's been doing well." Others were less enthusiastic but ready to give him the benefit of the doubt - and four more years in office. "Ahmadinejad might not have done so well, but at least he doesn't steal our money," said factory manager Nader Asadi. Random encounters suggest that ordinary Iranians care more about corruption and the economy than the nuclear issue, the Middle East and Holocaust denial, the main preoccupations of the west and wider world. Mousavi supporters are now torn between anger at the election result and the hope that it might somehow yet be reversed - despite the tone of finality from the regime last night. Others felt vindicated by their decision not to take part in a process they had always dismissed as a sham. "Nothing that matters is decided by the people in this country," insisted a businessman, Ali Zadeh, who abstained. "I will never vote for an Islamic theocracy. It's never going to change. People who supported Mousavi can't believe what happened." Protesters continued to congregate in Tehran's streets last night, but for many the anger was already turning into resignation. As one senior policeman told demonstrators: "The time of dancing and shouting is over".