Those nasty foreign hands in Afghanistan

[robdogbucky]

Anger as Karzai opens parliament

Losing candidates hold protest as president fails to win a delay to let disputed September poll be probed by tribunal.


"Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, has inaugurated the lower house of parliament after failing to win a delay to allow September's disputed elections to be investigated by a special election tribunal.

Karzai told losing candidates who held a protest outside his palace that his decision to go ahead with the ceremony on Wednesday had been influenced by "foreign hands".

The president had been under pressure from many of the newly elected MPs who argued that the tribunal was unconstitutional and that any claims of poll rigging should be investigated by regular courts.

Following the election, a quarter of the five million ballots cast were thrown out and 24 early winners were disqualified...."


http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/01/201112661112799585.html#



Karzai went on to say he was warned that if he failed to turn up they would inaugurate Parliament without him. He thought it would end in a political crisis if he did not go ahead. The US and the UN are being accused of pulling Karzai's strings.


Dear SOS Clinton and President Obama:

Your democracy is killing us

The People of Afghanistan