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Karzai Foresees Mid-2004 Afghan Elections
A draft constitution for Afghanistan will be released within two weeks, and general elections will be held by mid-2004, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday. Karzai told a conference at Columbia University that he hoped the constitution would be ratified by Dec. 31. A constitutional committee sent 460,000 questionnaires out to the public this year to find out what the Afghan people wanted in their new institutions. The 85,000 replies, and some 6,000 letters and 17,000 other messages, showed Afghans put high priority on religious tolerance, the rights of women, affirmative action on behalf of women, human rights and the reduction of the weaponry in the nation after decades of war, Karzai said.
It got easier when they weeded out the few Taliban responses:
"We must kill the infidels!"
"Kill the infidels by Allah!"
"Infidels must die die die"
"Sea of fire for the infidels!"
"Mommy it’s cold out here and I’m all alone!"
``We hope to present the draft of the constitution back to the Afghan people in about a week, or two weeks’ time,’’ he said. The country will have six months after ratification of the constitution to hold general elections. The drafting comes as Afghanistan struggles with a host of thorny problems — the regrouping of the Taliban, renewed terrorist attacks and the rebound of opium poppy production. ``Afghanistan will need many years to recover from all its ills,’’ Karzai said.
Makes sense. It's taken many years to accumulate them...
The speech was part of a series of appearances by world leaders who are in New York to attend the U.N. General Assembly. During a separate appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations, Karzai said Afghanistan’s neighbor, Pakistan, needs to curb Islamic extremism by stopping Muslim clerics from preaching hatred and by arresting Taliban leaders.
Closing the border would help too.
He spoke just two days after Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf addressed the same forum. Musharraf said earlier that Pakistan was doing all it could to battle terrorism and squelch extremism in his nation. ``I want clear, visible action,’’ Karzai said. ``Afghanistan needs strong cooperation from its neighbors, especially Pakistan.’’ Afghanistan’s extremist religious movement is believed to have its roots in Pakistani religious schools, where many Taliban leaders studied.
"Believed to"? Thumping yourself solidly on the thumb with a claw hammer is "believed to" produce pain...
``We’re not out of the woods yet,’’ Karzai said of Afghanistan. ``Are we worried about terrorism and extremism hurting the peace process? Yes, I am worried.’’
Nothing a few B-52s couldn’t fix if only Perv would look the other way.
Attacks by suspected Taliban have been increasingly frequent and bold. The south and the east of the countries, where ethnic Pashtuns who made up the backbone of the Taliban movement live, has been the scene of some of the fiercest fighting involving U.S.-led coalition forces. The Afghan administration fears attacks are being staged from Pakistan’s deeply conservative tribal belt, where local people sympathize with the Taliban, share their harsh interpretation of Islam and loathe the presence of foreign troops.
Fence. Barbed wire. Moats. Alligators. Land mines. Jagged glass. Hila monsters. Spikes. Man-eating tigers. Tammy Fay Baker... Tell me when to stop.
Posted by: Steve White 2003-09-26
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=19106