KABUL, 27 August 2004 — Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s rivals yesterday challenged him to quit the presidential race or face them in a public debate, even as they searched for a viable challenger to unite behind.
Karzai’s opponents believe the odds are unfairly stacked in his favor for an election on Oct. 9 that marks the climax of Afghanistan’s political transition, following the overthrow of the Taleban militia by US-led forces in late 2001.
“Since Karzai is abusing his position of power and monetary resources for the election, I and the council (of opposition candidates) support Karzai’s resignation,” Hamayoun Shah Asifi told a news conference flanked by 14 other challengers or their representatives.
For the past two weeks, Karzai has ignored calls for him to step down, arguing there is no constitutional reason for him to quit a position he has held since being put at the head of an interim government with US support after the Taleban’s fall.
About 18,000 US-led troops are in Afghanistan chasing remnants of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda, including Osama Bin Laden. A smooth victory for the US-backed Karzai would give President George W. Bush a boost ahead of his re-election bid in November, analysts say.
Karzai’s rivals yesterday dared him to either quit or face them in public debate under the tent of a Loya Jirga, a traditional grand council, to justify why he should fight the election as an incumbent.
But candidates told Reuters they were no longer considering a mass withdrawal from the race to protest Karzai’s running as the incumbent.
Latif Pedram, an ethnic Tajik and former journalist who returned from exile in France to contest the vote, told Reuters the plan was to challenge Karzai’s incumbency through the Supreme Court, launch a mass protest and finally ask allies in Karzai’s cabinet to quit. Powerful ethnic Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara military commanders who fought the Soviets in the 1980s and the Taleban in later years fear being squeezed out if Karzai, a member of the majority Pushtun ethnic group, is elected.
Pedram said among those looking for an alternative to Karzai were the powerful governor of western Herat province, Ismail Khan and Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, both of whom are Tajiks, ethnic Uzbek general Abdul Rashid Dostum and Hazara leader Mohammad Mohaqiq.
Meanwhile, the US Defense Department has for the first time admitted contact with a number of US nationals currently on trial in Afghanistan on charges of operating an illegal “torture chamber” in Kabul, the BBC reported yesterday.
An unnamed Pentagon official was quoted by the BBC as saying that alleged “bounty hunter” Jack Idema — one of three men on trial in Kabul — had spoken by telephone with Acting Director of Security Heather Anderson in early 2004.
Anderson is said to have later telephoned Idema rejecting the former US soldier’s offer to work for the Pentagon.
Idema, who has denied all accusations of torture or prisoner abuse, however, repeatedly tried to “build a relationship”, attempting contact by telephone, fax, and e-mail, said the BBC.
The three US citizens, along with four Afghan nationals, are accused of running a “freelance” operation detaining and interrogating terror suspects and are facing charges of torturing Afghan civilians.
Idema has repeatedly claimed to have been operating either under contract from, or with the approval of, the Department of Defense. When asked in court to prove his claims, he is reported to have named Anderson as his Pentagon contact.
