[Tolo News] Jamil Karzai, a cousin of President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
and an influential businessman, announced his support for presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
| Is he the one with the Christian wife? As I recall, one of the candidates had a Christian wife. |
"We have decided to announce our support to the team whose goal is to reform and bring solidarity to the country: Dr. Abdullah Abdullah," Jamil Karzai said. "We promise to move forward shoulder to shoulder with him."
Mr. Karzai vowed to do everything possible to make sure Dr. Abdullah comes out victorious in the second round of the presidential election, currently scheduled for June 14.
A few minutes later, Dr. Abdullah joined his new supporter on stage and emphasized that the result of the runoff would not be determined by ethnic politics.
"It is not acceptable to move the elections toward ethnicity, we are confident that the country will not go into crisis," Abdullah explained. "We will always protect the national interests."
Abdullah's comments came in response to rumblings in Afghan news media and social media that the contest between him and his opponent is essentially an ethnic one. Abdullah is half Tajik and half Pashtun whereas Ashraf Ghani is entirely Pashtun.
Both men, along with election officials and monitoring groups, have stressed the importance of keeping ethnic politics out of the election.