On Sunday, the Afghan Supreme Court ruled in favor of extending the legality of Hamid Karzi’s term as president all the way until new elections, which are set to occur in late August. This is obviously a delicate matter as the country’s young constitution states that Karzai’s legitimate rule should end in May and opposition groups, specifically the National Front, have already called the ruling ‘unacceptable’ and ‘unconstitutional’. There is also great fear that Karzai will abuse his presidential powers to help him win a second term. Ah, the life of a young, unstable democracy.
The US State Department has come out in strong support of the court’s ruling and calls for all Afghans to support it as well.
The United States strongly supports and welcomes this ruling.
We believe that continuity of government in the critical period before elections is vital and contributes to creating stability.
We urge all Afghans to support this ruling by the Supreme Court and to focus on the elections to be held on August 22, rather than continuing to question the status of their government.
The United States calls on the Government of Afghanistan, joined by its international partners, to make every effort to ensure that the conditions are created for genuinely free and fair elections that will reflect the will of the Afghan people. For its part, the United States neither supports nor opposes any legitimate candidate and will concentrate its efforts on helping to create a level playing field for all candidates.
The United States is already putting money where its mouth is by literally donating $40 million dollars toward the election. Sec of State Hillary Clinton stated: “We do not support or oppose any candidate. We want to ensure the elections themselves are going to have legitimacy and credibility.”
