Two items of note:
Weak Opposition to Karzai, So Far…
The Afghan Election Commission started excepting nominations for presidential and provincial offices for the upcoming August elections and one thing seems clear, incumbent President Hamid Karzai appears to have a strong chance at retaining his position. No other major candidate has so far put in papers to run against the current president and one of the main figures of the opposition National Front party, Deputy President Mohammad Qasim Fahim, left the group and thrown his support behind Karzai. Nevertheless, Karzai should be challenged by at least one or two of these fellows; former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, former finance ministers Ashraf Ghani and Anwar ul-Haq Ahady, and Nangarhar Province governor Gul Agha Sherzai. Incumbents always have an advantage and this appears to be even more true in a young, fractious democratic government, of which, Afghanistan is definitely one.
Trilateral Talks: Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan
The United States, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are not the only 3 countries holding meetings on ways to bring stability to the region, as Iran’s Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki was in Kabul to meet with his counterparts in Afghanistan and Pakistan to discuss regional issues between the three states. Mottaki, Afghan FM Rangeen Dadfar Spanta and Pakistan’s FM Shah Mehmood Qureshi reportedly discussed efforts to combat terrorism and drug trafficking, as well as ways for the three countries to cooperate on a higher level. Though in many ways these state’s have caused each other more pain their pleasure in recent history, they nevertheless have an opportunity to solve, or at least work on, many problems which trouble them all. I believe a more productive relationship, based on common enemies and problems, could not only help the three participating states, but also take some of the burden off the US and NATO. Iran’s FM Mottaki apparently agrees, stating “regional issues could be resolved with regional solutions.”
