Commentary
Afghanistan
and the Imperialist Double Standard Towards Elections
The runoff presidential elections in
Afghanistan slated for November 7 were called off and Hamid
Karzai declared the winner after his opponent Dr.
Abdullah Abdullah dropped out of the race, citing
ongoing rampant election fraud. The U.S., Canadian and other western
governments immediately recognized Karzai’s new
government as “legitimate” despite reports from international agencies
confirming Abdullah’s claims. This is in sharp contrast to their attitude
towards the presidential elections in Iran, which they continue to dispute
despite the fact that their own polling agencies predicted the landslide win by
president Ahmadenijad. It is also in sharp contrast
to their attitude towards the election of Hamas as the government in Gaza,
which they have refused to recognize despite overwhelming evidence that those
elections were free of corruption.
The haste of the imperialists to
recognize the Karzai government, which they,
themselves, acknowledge has become synonymous with corruption in Afghanistan,
demonstrates that the imperialists’ claims that they stand for democracy ring
hollow. In reality, they recognize the results of elections if those results
serve their interests and refuse to recognize elections which do not serve
their interests.
In the case of the Afghan elections,
attempts were made to suppress reports of widespread election fraud during the
first round. When those attempts failed, the imperialists and their media tried
to suggest that the fraudulent activities were not significant. When videos
surfaced of Karzai supporters stuffing ballot boxes
and numerous polling stations reported far more ballots cast than eligible
voters, attempts were made to broker a deal between Karzai
and Abdullah to avoid a runoff election. However, those attempts also failed
and a runoff election was scheduled to take place
under the supervision of the same election officials who were implicated in the
prior corruption. Abdullah’s repeated calls for the establishment of an
independent electoral commission fell on deaf ears.
If Abdullah had been the candidate of
choice of the imperialists, rather than Karzai, there
is little doubt that the streets of Kabul would have been teeming with
protesters supported by the big powers. They would have featured prominently on
the evening news and the imperialists would have been threatening to impose
economic sanctions to force a new round of “fair” elections. However, since Karzai is their man none of those things took place.
Abdullah is now being offered a prominent position in the new government to
placate him and defuse any opposition to the Karzai
regime.
To cover up their complicity in the
rampant corruption in Afghanistan, the imperialists have been making a lot of
noise about the necessity for reforms. U.S. President Barack Obama, in
recognizing the Karzai government, appealed to Karzai to get rid of corruption. British Prime Minister
Brown made similar appeals, going so far as to demand that Karzai
establish an anti-corruption commission if he wants British troops to continue
to prop up his regime. However, all of this is mere window dressing to fool the
public about the ongoing mission in Afghanistan. It is an attempt to shore up
the bankrupt claims that the imperialists are in Afghanistan to defend freedom
and democracy.
The imperialists knew that Karzai was corrupt when they chose him to head the puppet
government in Afghanistan. They know that their warlord allies are not only
corrupt, but the biggest drug lords in the country. They also know that the strata of corrupt politicians and drug lords is the only
strata of Afghan society that supports the occupation of Afghanistan and that
an end to corruption in Afghanistan would spell the end of the foreign
occupation. Therefore, nothing will come of the “demands” for an end to
corruption and the next elections will be just as fraudulent as the last ones,
so long as Afghanistan remains an occupied country.