Afghanistan goes to the polls again in June 7 to vote for their president in a final runoff.
From Akmal Dawi, at
The Diplomat, May 4 2014:
Quote:
Abdullah is running from the platform of the former Northern Alliance, specifically the Panjshiri elite who were the architects of the post-Taliban order in Afghanistan. Despite his claims that he represents the entire country, many of Abdullah’s team are former Mujahideen who fought two bloody wars in the last three decades: once against the Soviets and then against the Taliban. And despite his mixed Pashtun and Tajik ethnic roots, Abdullah is widely perceived as a patron of the Tajiks.
Ashraf Ghani, on the other hand, has been accused of alienating the Tajiks, Afghanistan’s second largest ethnic group. A Pashtun, Ghani has teamed with an Uzbek and a Hazara and has not been endorsed by any prominent Tajik leader. His senior vice presidential nominee, Abdul Rashid Dostum, has been both a formidable votes-bank and a political liability given his controversial past.
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No Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) or Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) will be signed until after the elections, so July at earliest; if no agreement is reached then all US forces leave Afghanistan in 2014. Apparently 60,000 have left so far this year in a draw-down.
Oh and hey, somebody else also left Afghanistan: WaPo April 28, 2014:
Mystery surrounds move of Afghan ‘torturer in chief’ to U.S. amid allegations of spy agency abuse
Quote:
He [Haji Gulalai] had run Afghan intelligence operations in Kandahar after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 and later served as head of the spy service’s detention and interrogation branch. After 2009, his whereabouts were unknown.
Because of his reputation for brutality, Gulalai was someone both sides of the war wanted gone. The Taliban tried at least twice to kill him. Despite Gulalai’s ties to the CIA and Afghan President Hamid Karzai, United Nations officials and U.S. coalition partners sought to rein him in or have him removed.
Today, Gulalai lives in a pink two-story house in Southern California, on a street of stucco homes on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
How he managed to land in the United States remains murky. Afghan officials and former Gulalai colleagues said that his U.S. connections — and mounting concern about his safety — account for his extraordinary accommodation.
But CIA officials said the agency played no role in bringing Gulalai into the country. Officials at the State Department and the Department of Homeland Security would not comment on his relocation or immigration status, citing privacy restrictions.
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So what if he tortured prisoners, amirite? Can't we help people who "helped" the US- by torturing people? I mean, we help other Afghans, right?
Quote:
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Despite a substantial record of human rights abuses, Gulalai was able to bypass immigration barriers faced by Afghans whose work for the United States made them potential targets of the Taliban. Many have been turned away because of security objections submitted in secret by U.S. spy agencies.
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Well except maybe those who
weren't chin-deep in torture and
don't know where the bodies are, I guess.