Ex-Guantanamo Detainee Seeks Office In Afghanistan

[maddezmom]

August 10, 2010
It's election season in Afghanistan, and both the Afghans and the international community can only hope this one will go better than last year's balloting, when President Hamid Karzai won re-election through a process widely denounced as fraudulent.

So far, not many clear themes have emerged in the campaign for the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections.

But one candidate has an interesting distinction: He is the only former Guantanamo detainee running for office.

Anti-American, Anti-Karzai Sentiment

Campaigning is in full swing, but that's not what is bringing people into the streets these days in Kabul. Anti-American sentiment is strong in Afghanistan, particularly among people outraged over recent incidents in which civilians have been injured and killed.

It's a current many politicians might like to harness. And there may be no candidate better positioned than Izatullah Nusrat, a 42-year-old village elder from Sorobi, east of Kabul.


more:http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=129007743