Afghanistan: Attacks Expected To Continue And Election Results Still Unresolved

Further attacks on the Indian embassy in Afghanistan today left seventeen people dead and dozens injured in a car bomb that detonated inside Kabul–a once secure area.  The attacks have spawned further debate on the government’s poor handling of security and whether officials will be able to mitigate the massive growth of insurgent groups throughout the country. This is the fourth such blast in the past eight weeks.

The Taliban have claimed responsibility for both attacks this month—the UN World Food Program was attacked earlier this week which left five people dead in that suicide bomb blast.

In an interview this morning, Peter Galbraith, top American UN envoy who was sacked earlier this month after what he believes was “a cover-up” of fraud in the Afghan election, said the Taliban have gained complete control of the countryside and Afghanistan’s second largest city-Kandahar. He also added the north of the country is increasingly being controlled by pro-Taliban groups.

“People committed fraud on a massive scale…and selfish interests were ahead of national interests.”

Some polling stations were closed but reported receiving ballots–and many skeptics of the current leader, Hamid Karzai believe he is to blame for the election coup.

Ban Ki Moon, the UN Secretary-General, announced that he dismissed Mr. Galbraith “in the best interest of the mission”.

“I think it’s astonishing that the United Nations would dismiss an official because he was concerned about fraud in a UN-funded and UN-supported election, Galbraith said earlier this month.

The increase in lawlessness throughout the country is being directly linked to the election fraud. Galbraith believes that the only way to mitigate the violence is to  support a runoff at the end of the month between Karzai and his opponent Abdullah Abdullah.

TRNS asked Secretary General spokesperson Michele Montas-on the SG’s position on a runoff:

“At this point we are waiting for the Afghan electoral commission and we have enough guarantees to know the independent electoral commission can complete the work.”

Galbraith called the independent electoral commission pro-Karzai and not neutral and said the Afghan electoral commission was corrupt as it was being led by Karzai’s government.

“Aside from my personal views, it is quite disturbing that a UN official was removed for expressing his views to his boss. This clearly undermines the credibility of the UN mission” he added.