The Hindu : International : Polls will deliver us from war: Karzai

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 06, 2004

International

International

Polls will deliver us from war: Karzai

GHAZNI, OCT. 5. The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, made his second successful campaign stop outside the safety of the capital today, telling a crowd of 10,000 people that historic elections this weekend will deliver them from a quarter-century of war.

Security was extremely tight, with U.S. bodyguards — machine guns strapped around their shoulders and wraparound sunglasses covering their eyes — and hundreds of Afghan security forces on hand. American helicopters flew overhead and every participant in the rally had to pass through security checkpoints. Mr. Karzai said the election was a golden opportunity to build a new future for a country that has known nothing but war, drought and poverty for more than two decades. ``Brothers and sisters of Afghanistan, I ask you to vote for me freely, with no pressure,'' Mr. Karzai told the crowd in Ghazni, about 110 km south of Kabul. ``We want a proud Afghanistan, a stable Afghanistan, a peaceful Afghanistan.''

Mr. Karzai, the overwhelming favourite to beat 17 rivals and win Saturday's vote, has largely remained ensconced in his heavily guarded palace since he survived a rocket attack on his helicopter at a campaign stop in eastern Afghanistan in September. His vice-presidential running mate was targeted later, surviving a bomb attack on his convoy in north-eastern Afghanistan.

Tribal support

But after the rally on Tuesday, the President mingled with the crowd, shaking hands with an old man who pressed closer to meet him.

Hundreds of tribal elders and village chiefs gathered under a giant canopy on the arid, sun-baked plains outside Kandahar today and promised to support Mr. Karzai.

The incumbent, whose family is from the deeply conservative south, has not been to the region for more than four months, even though he is counting on his ethnic Pashtun votes. Mr. Karzai's younger brother Ahmad Wali is a force to be reckoned with in southern politics and is willing to do all he can to ensure the support of the country's largest Pashtun clan.

- Agencies

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