Friday, October 23, 2009

Galbraith, not Kerry, Responsible for Afghan Redux


My new post over at The Mantle is about President Hamid Karzai's decision to give up his opposition and accept a run-off in Afghanistan's election. While Senator John Kerry is being hailed as the deal-broker here for finally convincing the reluctant Karzai to do the right thing and submit to a run-off, I argue that the real credit should go to UN envoy Peter Galbraith.

Galbraith was the one who loudly sounded the alarm about the ridiculous levels of voter fraud in the Afghan election, and who kept complaining even after he was fired by the United Nations for publicly disagreeing with his boss, Kai Eide, the head of the Afghan mission, who seemed more than willing to let the fraudulent results of the vote stand. If it hadn't been for Galbraith's complaints, it's hard to imagine that Kerry would have been sent on his mission to Kabul in the first place.

You can read my whole post here.
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