Friday, January 10, 2014

Former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates: U.S. Tried To Influence Afghanistan`s Presidential Elections In 2009

President Barack Obama and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan walk along the South Lawn Drive of the White House, following their working lunch, May 12, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

US 'Tried To Oust Hamid Karzai By Manipulating Afghan Elections' -- The Guardian

Former defence secretary Robert Gates is quoted as saying in his memoirs that US tried to eject Afghan president in 2009

The US government tried to oust the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, by manipulating elections in 2009, in what amounted to a "clumsy and failed putsch", the former defence secretary Robert Gates has been quoted as writing in his memoirs.

Karzai has long claimed that the US tried to manipulate the poll to remove him from office, while Washington insisted it was an impartial supporter of democracy. The revelations in Gates's account of his years in power, which is published next week and covers the war in Afghanistan, appear to vindicate the Afghan leader's suspicions.

The top US diplomat Richard Holbrooke supported Karzai's rivals in the hope of pushing the poll to a second round that the incumbent would lose, Foreign Policy magazine reported.

Read more ....

Update #1: US tried to manipulate Afghan poll: Robert Gates -- Business Standard
Update #2: Hamid Karzai's mistrust of U.S. linked to election interference -- CBC News

My Comment: If true .... this is one reason (among many) on why U.S. - Afghan relations are in the toilet.

1 comment:

Intelligence.Architecture.Infrastructure said...

er... It is the U.S. idea of 'democracy' that's IN THE TOILET.

The only 'Free Market' U.S. and NATO has created in Afghanistan is Opium Trade.

Manipulating Elections and Militarily Reinforcing Opium Trade in Afghanistan puts US, NATO and it's blithering idea of DEMOCRACY in an Amoebic Dysentery Toilet.