KABUL, 19 March 2004 — Leaders of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance factions have been meeting to find a candidate to challenge President Hamid Karzai in coming elections, but have yet to find common ground, alliance members said yesterday.
The alliance helped US-led forces topple the Taleban regime in 2001, and forms the backbone of Karzai’s government.
But alliance members have been angered by Karzai’s efforts to limit their power in the past year and many have opposed the liberalization of Islamic law since he took office.
Alliance member Abdul Hafiz Mansoor said there had been a series of meetings to find a candidate to rival Karzai, widely seen as favorite to win the elections supposed to be held in June. “A lot of people, including several ministers, are unhappy with Karzai and talks have been going on to find a common candidate,” Mansoor said.
Those engaged in the bid included former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, and members of another Islamic group led by Professor Abdul Rabb Rasoul Sayyaf.
Mansoor said they also included Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, a notorious northern commander who is a military adviser to Karzai, Foreign Minister Abdullah, Education Minister Yunis Qanuni and Herat Governor Ismail Khan.
Similar meetings in the past have failed to reach an agreement on a common candidate to rival Karzai, who has been strongly backed by the United States since it invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to overthrow the Taleban regime.
Another alliance official said Muhammad Qasim Fahim, the military leader of the alliance and defense minister who also serves as the first vice president, had avoided taking part in the meetings.
The official, who did not want to be identified, said it appeared Fahim planned to run on the same ticket as Karzai as his future deputy.
The alliance is a loose grouping made up largely of ethnic minority factions who have their own differences. It was formed to oppose the Taleban after they drove Rabbani’s government from power in 1996.
Differences deepened between Karzai — from Afghanistan’s largest Pashtun clan — and alliance leaders during a national meeting which approved a new constitution early this year.
The elections will be the first democratic polls ever in Afghanistan, but it remains to be seen when they will be held.
Only 1.5 million of an estimated 10.5 million eligible voters have registered so far and Karzai said on Wednesday that the timing of the polls would depend on progress in this process organized by the United Nations.
“The Afghan government is keen to have the election in June, July or August, depending on the preparations,” he during a visit to Kabul on Wednesday by US Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Asked whether an alliance candidate could expect to win when the Americans were so strongly behind Karzai, Mansoor replied: “Let people vote for who they want to vote. If Americans insist on having Karzai in power, then they can extend his term in office, there is no need to hold elections.”
