Finish the campaign with a massive rally Taliban opposition and called for a boycott

Kabul, 17 Aug 2009. - Thousands of Afghans marched to the stadium in Kabul to provide support for the main opposition candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, the last day of the presidential election campaign in Afghanistan, where Taliban reiterated their call to boycott.
The elections, in which the favorites the current president, Hamid Karzai, will be held on October 20 in an atmosphere of complete uncertainty about the threats of Taliban insurgents, that described as "propaganda" American in a statement posted on the Internet .
The Taliban have denied that any agreement reached to allow the process, the authorities had announced one in July in western Badghis-and said that "most of Afghanistan" is under its control, so "there is no possibility of holding elections" , said, "except in a few cities and provincial centers."
Despite the fundamentalist threat, thousands of people with hats and flags came today celestial city stadium to wrap Abdullah, a dentist and former foreign minister who polls show the main rival of Karzai.
The candidate himself came to the dais between shoved and dragged by a horde of followers that his private guard, a group of Tajik armed with "Kalashnikov" - barely able to contain, to the point that several people suffered bruises.
In the stadium, followers of Abdullah uttered shouts of support for their candidate, a former lieutenant of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance killed by fundamentalists in 2001 - whose photographs dominated the stage.
"Everyone wants change in Afghanistan and we are confident we will win," said Efe a spokesman for the campaign, while a white helicopter threw leaflets over the stadium to the delight of the audience with a message for change.
The last known survey published by the American Institute IRI, gives Abdullah 26 percent of the vote, behind the 44 percent awarded Karzai, a result that would the two candidates to a second round.
"To help youth, you must all lean to the national development of Afghanistan. Help me to win and I will help you, "he desgañitaba the candidate before the microphone as the crowd chanted his name and called it" useless " Karzai.
According to experts, the vote of Abdullah, father and mother Pashtun Tajik proceed on all of the members of this last race, second in the country and mass today at the stadium in Kabul, the place used by the Taliban to execute inmates.
Presidential elections are marked precisely by the threat of boycott of the Taliban and their attempts to derail the process with actions, such as the attack on Saturday at the ISAF headquarters in Afghanistan, which resulted in seven deaths.
Although the Government has promised to mobilize all its resources to protect the elections, Afghan Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar, acknowledged Efe on Sunday that its forces will not be able to guarantee one hundred percent security.
In their race to proclaim the winner without a runoff-for what you need more than 50 percent of the votes, Karzai spent today to rest and his team announced the withdrawal of four candidates that they will support the president.
"We met with him and saw that is committed to democracy and development in Afghanistan," said Efe one of them, Dr. Nasin Anise, who denied having negotiated a position in a hypothetical future government of Karzai.
President, Pashtun, has joined so far supports a dozen candidates and commitment to add votes of the various Afghan ethnic groups, although their opponents accuse him of having given to this to regional warlords and former "warlords".
"Seeing the kind of national political participation and we have created and the fact that a dozen candidates support us, things have worked well," said Efe campaign spokesman for Karzai, Waheed Omar.
Abdullah today visited several provinces in the afternoon, as did the candidate Ashraf Ghani and Ramazan Bashardost, the latter an eccentric candidate who has run his business from a tent in Kabul and has moved it to the third position estimate to vote.

Karzai supports only foreign troops participating in televised debate

Kabul, 16 Aug 2009. - Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said today that ensured the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan while the country is not prepared for his safety during his only appearance in a televised debate on the occasion of the presidential elections .
The campaign will end tomorrow, but so far Karzai-major-favorite in the polls, had refused to go the state broadcaster RTA studies to compare their ideas with those of its main rivals.
"We need foreign troops until the country self-sufficient, "said Karzai, who reviewed the achievements of his government in recent years and has sought to show that an idea long term to Afghanistan.
In the country there are currently some 100,000 foreign soldiers from about forty countries, but despite successive increases of soldiers in recent months ordered by governments Taliban activity has increased.
Just today, the secretary general of NATO, Fogh Rasmussen Andreas, "vital" mission that NATO plays in Afghanistan, where the maximum alert is registered after the attack Saturday at the headquarters of the organization in Kabul.
Despite the deteriorating security situation, much of the debate was however focused on economic improvement proposals and solutions to underdevelopment Afghanistan suffering, beaten for nearly three decades of war.
Accompanied on stage Karzai two of its major rivals, Ashraf Ghani and Ramazan Bashardost, who has moved it, according to the latest known-to third place in the preferences of voters for his perceived closeness to the Afghan people.
"I think I've done very well, but I won, but the people. I vote because I'm alone, but I am clean and honest, "assessed Efe his television role Bashardost minutes after the debate.
The candidate has campaigned from a store located in Kabul, and his populist message of support the poor stopped drinking Coca-Cola because he said not everyone could afford it-has become popular among voters, analysts say.
The debate, broadcast on state television Afghan consisted of two games per round of questions and an Islamic prayer performed by a local journalist, to which answered the three candidates one at a time and without exchange opinions among themselves.
Both Ghani and Bashardost-both former ministers attacked Karzai, the current president during the debate, with references the alleged inefficiency and corruption of his government, although President defended himself with an eye toward the next term.
"Early in my government revenue per person was $ 170. Are now 490 and still rising. I have complete confidence in the free market, and Afghanistan is a free market, "said Karzai.
But the big surprise of the debate was the absence of Karzai's main rival in the polls, Abdullah Abdullah, who said the presenter, days earlier rejected the terms of the appearance, his spokesman would not comment Efe reason.
The last known survey published by the International Republican Institute, predicts 44 percent of the vote for Hamid Karzai, six points below the required majority to be crowned victor in the first round.
The poll, released on August 14, gives 26 percent of the votes Abdullah and 10 percent to Deputy Bashardost, but only the top two candidates will to the second round if neither achieves more than half of the votes.
By participating in the debate today, Afghan politicians sold one of his last opportunities to present public opinion, as the election campaign officially ends at midnight on Monday and Tuesday.
Voting will take place on August 20 and to ensure the safety of colleges today the government promised to table all its resources, recognizing that the Taliban will out a massive campaign of intimidation.

Government assumes that Taliban will practice mass intimidation at the polls

Kabul, 16 Aug 2009. - Afghan officials announced today that its forces will observe a ceasefire on August 20 presidential election day, and acknowledged Efe that provide an insurgent campaign of "massive intimidation" with a view the elections.
Afghan Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, a colleague of Interior, Mohammad Hanif Atmar, and the head of the Afghan secret service, Amrullah Saleh, staged a press conference to calm things down a day after Taliban attack resulted in seven deaths at the ISAF headquarters in Kabul.
"To say that perfect peace will be difficult, but we must be prepared for every eventuality," he admitted Efe conference after Defense Minister, who promised to "work hard" to ensure the process.
Warzak announced the media that the Afghan authorities establish a triple safety net, made ​​by the Police, the Afghan army and ISAF the Force (ISAF) for election day.
Said Efe Minister Afghan troops are also to abstain from developing offensive operations on the day of the election, but will answer any possible attack by the Taliban, who have called the population to boycott the process.
The electoral commission has ordered 6,500 polling places, 400 more than in 2004, but there are concerns that insurgents are present mainly in the south and east of the country, commit assaults and attacks to prevent the holding of elections.
The joint press conference was in fact only a day after the suicide bombing by an insurgent against the ISAF headquarters in the heart of Kabul, which killed seven people and wounded other 91.
The interior minister, Hanif Atmar, said that security forces have foiled 62 attempted attacks in the last six months and ensured the involvement of police in the elections far reaching capabilities.
"We will deploy all our resources to protect our people, 'said Atmar Efe. But we know for sure that the enemies of Afghanistan will do the same to hurt. "
Atmar admitted however that his government can not ensure one hundred percent of the voting security in a time when the Taliban have stepped up their activities and increased its presence new parts of Afghanistan.
The insurgents, embarked on a campaign of assassinations and attacks on political activists and candidates, especially in rural areas, have come issuing threatening pamphlets citizens who decide to vote the next day 20.
"We know, Atmar said that the Taliban-resort mass intimidation, terrorist attacks, suicide bombings and attack the convoys and people with election material. "
Front provided to insurgent actions, the head of Afghan intelligence services (National Directorate of Security) revealed Efe that his organization is developing work to encourage participation and mobilization of voters.
"We are going to tribal leaders to help us to mobilize people. The proof is that yesterday in Helmand (south) a candidate was able to gather a crowd at an event just 24 hours after a suicide attack, "confided Amrullah Saleh, referring a rally of the current president, Hamid Karzai.
"It's not necessarily support to a particular candidate, but that increase participation, "he added.
Neither Saleh nor Wardak and Atmar could quantify how many of the 6,500 polling stations will be impossible to guarantee security, although a European Union observer said Efe that so far no evidence of fraud in the campaign.
According to surveys, the current head of state, Hamid Karzai, has a large advantage in estimating vote on their rivals, but with a percentage that is less than 50 percent needed to be declared president in the first round.

The democratic turn of the old Taliban

Kabul, 16 Aug 2009. - The unique candidate "Rocketi" converted former Taliban commander the cause of Afghan democracy, stands out from the quarantine Hamid Karzai rival in the upcoming elections and appeals to the Presidency the insurgents to "leave the desert" and follow suit.
Dubbed "Rocketi" for his handling of the bullets in his time as "mujahedin" against the Soviet occupation, Abdul Salam gestures seriously before hundreds of men barbados-the majority Pashtuns, who have traveled from southern and eastern Afghanistan listen.
"Rocketi" occupied a senior Army during the years of Taliban fundamentalist government, but in the fall of the surrendered their weapons and became to the democratic cause after a passage of nine months in jail, and with foreign troops in the country.
"I do not keep count of how many rockets launched in my life have I-ironic" Rocketi "in an interview with Efe, shortly after a rally in the capital. But in Afghanistan it is time for peace. Touch negotiate with the Taliban. "
After fighting the Soviets, enlist in the Taliban and go after the Afghan Parliament, "Rocketi" measures these days its potential as a candidate the Presidency of Afghanistan's elections on 20 August.
And the audience, composed of hundreds of men with turbans, long beards, and six women in "burqa", launches cries of "Allah is great" in support promises of former Taliban commander: Islamic justice, peace, zero tolerance to corruption, security and work.
"Rocketi" listening interventions laid the tribal leaders turned on, the poems of interlude, an open letter from a child and verses sung without instrumental accompaniment, as a musical tradition still used by the Taliban themselves.
His followers embody the part of Afghanistan that refuses to adopt foreign influences and clings to the traditions of the ethnic Pashtuns-largest in the country, based on loyalty the tribe and a very conservative reading of Islam.
And so it happen during the cries for action of this former Taliban who, as a student at the podium, "or accept the customs of foreigners or change clothes just because you (north) Americans in Afghanistan."
"They are foreigners who do not leave us to progress. Countries like Russia, Iran and Pakistan did not allow the development of Afghanistan. We must strengthen our security forces to march foreign troops here, "Efe is justified to the candidate.
Although the view of analysts the possibilities of "Rocketi" are almost nil, according to a recent survey, is one of the most unpopular candidate-his importance lies in the example can be assumed for the Taliban still fighting in the country.
Afghan President himself and top seed in the elections, Hamid Karzai, has, as promised star, albeit unsuccessfully, a settlement offer to the moderate Taliban to lay down their arms and enter the democratic process.
"If Karzai is the most successful trading. So the war will end, "says Efe in the audience the old "mujahideen" Mohammed Nader, come from the northern province of Kunduz, who otherwise believes that the government has not given satisfaction the "jihadists".
The democratic conversion "Rocketi," however, has gone bad their former allies fundamentalists, that in this campaign have attacked twice his actions and killed one of his associates, having urged the population to boycott the elections.
"They are wrong-regrets actions cranky former insurgent commander table while his beard. The Taliban in Afghanistan must respect the democratic process and vote candidates. The people of Afghanistan want peace and stability. "
"Rocketi" says the campaign have spent every penny he got for selling your home, some $ 82,000, but says it will be worth if the disbursement is for Afghanistan from again the path of development.
And his followers, with prayers, calling for the "success of the brave 'Rocketi'" the controversial and former Taliban commander from Jalalabad that is now used in the "insurgents leave the desert" and begin to march in the same direction as the other Afghans.

A Taliban attack against ISAF headquarters of the Afghan campaign muddies

Kabul, 15 Aug 2009. - The Taliban now muddied the Afghan campaign with a suicide bombing that caused seven deaths in front of the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, which occurred just hours after an attack with seven rounds against the Spanish military base in Herat in the west.
At 0830 am (0400 GMT), a deafening roar gave way A dense column of white smoke from the fortified district of Wazir Akbar Khan and visible from several points of Kabul.
They are based, among other buildings, the U.S. embassy and the headquarters of ISAF, the NATO mission in the country, as far as suicide came aboard a vehicle that blew up despite to the tight security.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense confirmed that the attack killed seven people and wounded to another 91, mostly Afghan workers waiting at the gates of the headquarters of the organization to enter the premises.
In a statement, ISAF recognized that the explosion took the lives of several civilians and several soldiers were also injured foreigners, but without to specify the number of victims.
The attack was claimed by the Taliban, whose spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid said Efe by telephone from an undisclosed location that the purpose of suicide was to attack the U.S. embassy and the headquarters of the ISAF.
"(The attack) was executed with an SUV loaded with 500 kilograms of explosives," said Mujahid, who said he killed 25 people.
Local channels broadcast images of the teams of firefighters and rescue services efforts to extinguish the fire caused by explosion, including concrete blocks and security barriers that protect the central capital area.
The city of Kabul is under a strong surveillance patrol of ISAF, Afghan troops and local police, surrounding government buildings and access control the tracks have their headquarters where foreign embassies.
Despite As a result, the Kabul airport yesterday received the impact of two projectiles, according to the U.S. military, after eight more rockets fell in the city on August 4, launched from nearby rural areas to the capital.
In the rest of the country, despite the additional deployment of troops on the occasion of the elections, the Taliban have increased in recent weeks attacks and several rockets were fired yesterday on the Spanish Forward Support Base for the second time in a week.
The General Staff of the Spanish Defense (EMAD) detailed in Madrid that were released between 22.35 and 22.55 local time (18.05 and 18.25 GMT) on the basis, although there were no deaths or injuries.
Afghanistan held on August 20 presidential elections and to provincial councils, but the Taliban have asked the public to boycott the elections and have launched attacks across Afghanistan the process.
As well as threatening who vote to cut off fingers, insurgents have staged looting of candidates for office, killed activists and attempted to end the lives of several leading Afghan politicians.
On Thursday, former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, a supporter of opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah, escaped unhurt from a Taliban ambush on their convoy as he traveled the northern district of Kunduz.
The candidate to vice president Mohamd Qasim Fahim, a former "warlord" who concurs in the list of the current head of state, Hamid Karzai, had another similar attack in late July, although unhurt.
"The enemies of Afghanistan, such attacks on the eve of the elections, they want to create fear among the people. But they must know that the Afghans know the importance of going to vote, "Karzai said today after the suicide bombing in Kabul in a statement.
His press officer, Sediq Sediqqi confirmed Efe that Karzai keep his campaign events and maintained that the Taliban "will fail to change the will of the people" despite his efforts to shake up the electoral process.

Hamid Karzai seeks to re-edit command with a comfortable lead

Kabul, 14 Aug 2009. - Installed in a comfortable lead over its rivals, the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, aims to defend his mandate in the elections on 20 by Flag of the dialogue with more moderate Taliban and the country pending the promised development.
Karzai, 51, has been leading Afghanistan almost from the fall of the Taliban in 2001, first leading a transitional government and later elected as president by the citizens, in 2004.
In the upcoming elections, the current president wants to win re-election over his critics, who accuse him of tolerating corruption, relying on the old "warlords" and be unable to develop the institutions.
So far, Karzai has come pacts with the leaders of different ethnic minorities, such as "warlords" Ismail Khan (Tajik) and Rashid Dostum (Uzbek), and has incorporated his nomination to the powerful Mohammed Fahim, a controversial general and a former defense minister in his government and now wants to be his vice president.
With Fahim, Karzai seeks to ensure the support of northern Tajiks, the second largest ethnic group in the country, while he tries to shore up the vote of the Pashtuns in the south and east against the boycott promoted by Taliban insurgents.
His most important punch line is just an offer of dialogue to more moderate Taliban, in order that these lay down their arms and join to building Afghan democracy at a time of expansion of the insurgency.
The pact would be a new twist to the political career of this leading moderate Pashtun, who during the Soviet occupation (1979-1989) served as an advisor to the mujahideen and then supported the Taliban thinking, like many, that would bring stability to the country.
The close relations that the latter had with the Pakistani secret services led him, however, to distance themselves from the fundamentalists and began to organize opposition abroad since before the 11-S.
With the U.S. intervention in Afghanistan, Karzai was decided to fight against the Taliban and starred in an epic entrance on the south accompanied by a handful of followers several motorcycle riding, as has the writer Ahmed Rashid in his book " A Descent Into Chaos. "
And then, chosen to lead the country's interim government, the president still managed to maintain a precarious balance between the different factions, ethnic groups and tribes of the country, still central to the political system.
While domestic policy has been criticized by liberals for being slow in its reforms and the prevailing corruption, the Afghan people value their sentences distressed civilian deaths at the hands of international troops in the country.
Reviled by his opponents derided as "mayor of Kabul" because of limited control over the country, Karzai is yet to be popular among Afghans under the last two surveys known, which attributed a 44 and 45 percent respectively, decided to vote in presidential elections.
With a twenty point lead over its nearest rival, Karzai faces the future of Afghanistan as favorite comfortable in his role as "father of the nation", as it is termed some of his election posters.
"If you vote today Karzai, Karzai guarantee your tomorrow "promises Afghans in their electoral slogan.
Populism aside, the real merit of the current president has been his move to occupy the center of the Afghan crossroads: between Pashtuns and Tajiks, between foreign troops and the public, between moderate Taliban and the small liberal sector.
They say of him, those who know him, that feels so comfortable in a suit and tie like a turban and robe

Taliban advance and desire for development of the population make the campaign

Kabul, 14 Aug 2009. - Some 17 million Afghans registered to vote in the second presidential election since the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan, marked by the advance of the Taliban, as well as the desire for reconstruction and development of the population.
"This is one of the most difficult electoral exercises I've seen," said a few days ago to the media on UN special representative in Afghanistan, Kai Eide.
The authorities planned to send almost 3,200 donkeys for carrying the polls to the most inaccessible places in this country of difficult terrain, but anecdotes aside, the main concern is the security situation.
"It's the Taliban factor. We can not expect a high turnout in some areas and provinces. In more than 10 districts will be difficult to hold elections, "said Efe a spokesman for the Afghan Foundation for a Free and Fair Elections (FEFA), Jandar Spinghar.
In recent weeks, international forces have launched several operations in the traditional Taliban stronghold of Helmand (south) in an attempt to ensure security before the presidential elections, the insurgents have decided to boycott.
In Kabul, many citizens complain that the situation has worsened, which recognized the own boss of foreign troops, Stanley McChrystal, who admitted in a recent interview with the newspaper "Wall Street Journal" that the Taliban "have taken advantage. "
The insurgents have a strong presence in much of southern and eastern Afghanistan, areas where the ethnic Pashtun majority, which traditionally come from the Taliban, but also the president, Hamid Karzai, who is running to republish mandate.
Karzai appears with the old "warlord" Tajik Mohammed Fahim as a candidate to vice president, a move that analysts attribute an attempt to split loyalties in the former Northern Alliance and attract the votes of the ethnic Tajik a, the second most populous of Afghanistan.
At the quarry to vote their hopes basa which surveys show to be more potent rival to Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister who worked closely with the guerrilla killed Ahmed Shah Mehsud, the Northern Alliance in their resistance against Taliban prior to the 11-S.
They and another 41 candidates in the running, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, concur the elections as independent and outside the umbrella of political parties, which have matured in just the first-fragile democracy in Afghanistan.
"Tajiks vote the Tajiks. The Pashtuns the Pashtuns. Each to his own, this is the great problem of Afghanistan, "said Kabuli Efe a student during a meeting of Ghani.
Loyalties aside, the difficult terrain and lack of credible data make it almost impossible to venture an accurate forecast beyond the advantage that all analysts attach Karzai, seen for months by various commentators as the "winner inevitable."
The two most recent surveys, conducted in July separately by the International Republican Institute and the U.S. Glevum analysis center, attributed, respectively, Karzai, 44 and 45 percent of the votes determined, 18 and 20 points ahead of Abdullah, but that outcome would require to hold a runoff between the two.
With the anti-Taliban struggle in the hands of international troops and the Afghan army, all candidates are focused on the development, reconstruction and the creation of wealth, while rallies held under tight security conditions.
"They are developing strategies. There are only tactics, "said Efe a western security source on the candidates in the elections, which are held together the elections for provincial councils.
While Kabul is flooded with electoral panels and large images of their candidates, the international troops try to get the 29,000 ballots for voting are emplaced before 20 August, even in areas under Taliban control.
After that date, an account that promises to slow: initial results for the September 3, final 17 this month and the second round, if necessary, for the first week of October.

Afghan lawmaker calls for the integration of women in Afghan society

Kabul, 13 Aug 2009. - Deputy Shinkai Karokhail, before the elections on August 20, argues that the integration of women in social and political life of the country, is essential for the regeneration of Afghanistan.
"The future government of Afghanistan should take into account women, inclusion in the political power and give weight their decisions. Give them education, economic and health care. We must begin to fulfill commitments ", said Deputy afgan to Shinkai Karokhail, one of the female voices in the country.
In an interview with Efe, Karokhail acknowledged that the situation of Afghan women has changed for the better since the fall of the Taliban, but reported that women continue to suffer from poverty, lack of education and the dependence of man.
The name jumped in March Karokhail the headlines for his opposition a law promoted by President Hamid Karzai, which Shia women, a minority sect of Islam in the country-were below the men to justice.
Despite to achieve together other deputies of the reform project, Karokhail maintained that Afghan women still lack legal protection and are removed from politics, although for the siren song of electoral promises.
In recent days, much of the attention has focused on campaign promises of candidates to improve the situation of women in the country, as it did today the president, Hamid Karzai.
But activists like Karokhail, who chairs the Education Center for Afghan Women, limited to show "optimism" for the future while trying to win, step by step, spheres of freedom in the conservative society of Afghanistan.
And one of the keys to this, according to the deputy, lies in justice and security forces designed for women that serve to eliminate the "sexual harassment" that the police subjected on a daily basis thousands of Afghans.
"If the law does not protect us, then who will? We need a police and justice for women. There are many cases of women who suffer sexual harassment from the police, "he added Karokhail of Pashtun origin.
Guided by family pressure or, in many cases, by choice, many women still opt Kabul wear the burqa when they leave to the streets, although it is usual image of other women who prefer the hijab.
And the young Karokhail spokesman in charge of guiding Efe through the dusty streets of Kabul to reach the spacious house with lawn deputy, the tissue is removed upon entering the car.
Although the Taliban threat is not evident in the Afghan capital, the fundamentalists continued, and remain, in the southern areas under their control, a close siege against women's freedom and subjected the Afghan to strict control to education denied.
The majority (around 80 percent) are unable to read or write and stay in the background in a country where it is still obvious the traditional dominance of men in all spheres of daily life.
Afghan elections in 2009 mark the emergence of liberal capital's small outbreaks seeking greater participation for both women and for centuries delayed another sector, youth.
"Let me tell you my priorities: more opportunities and educational change. Said Efe decided Zubaida spokeswoman Akbar, the Forum for Civil Society in Afghanistan (ACSF).
With the ACSF, Akbar is available do reach the major candidates a road map with its proposals, aimed primarily to provide opportunities young people from Afghanistan, where 68 percent of the population is under 25 years.
"Not well defined who the Taliban ... Students of the Qur'an, old masters of the people, guerrillas ...? I have no enemies, but if we want our space needs to end with that thought, "he added.

Hundreds of Afghan women support opposition candidate at a rally in Kabul

Kabul, 12 Aug 2009. - Touched with celestial burqas, hijabs or veils of colors, hundreds of Afghan women joined today the campaign of presidential elections in Afghanistan on August 20 in an act of support for opposition candidate Ashraf Ghani and claim their own.
"We deserve good government at last. We will vote for safety and to bring peace Afghanistan. We're tired of fighting and war, "said Efe between the student shy smiles Baseri Farishta, shortly before the start of the ceremony in the capital.
With women in the front seats and some men stationed behind less-Ghani girded his electoral slogan, "New Beginning" and pledged to invest in the "daughters of the country", to be said, the "coming entrepreneurs."
“El régimen (del presidente, Hamid Karzai) no ha dispuesto ni jueces ni policía para mujeres. Yo sí lo haré, y además les daré propiedades y atención sanitaria”, aseguró Ghaní entre aplausos de sus seguidoras y gritos ocasionales de “Alá es grande”.
The candidate, former finance minister in Karzai's government, came walking walk by the side of a large pink tent installed in the garden of his home, a un paso del centro de Kabul pero, como tantos otros edificios, bien amurallada.
Intellectual training and experience over a decade at the World Bank, Ghani was considered one of the candidates most likely to embarrass the candidate Karzai, but the latest survey gives only 3 percent of the vote.
However, both Karzai and Ghani among Pashtuns have their main quarry of followers, so that the result of the former can influence the career for re-election of current president, which aims to prevail without runoff.
Karzai's opponents cite the ineffectiveness of government, widespread corruption and tolerance towards the "warlords" as major spots in its work managing these years, a message Ghani, 60, stressed in his speech.
"My goal is to provide an honest government. The Afghan vote an honest person, "remained, after asking the female support and promising new job opportunities for Afghan women, who experience discrimination secular.
After years of strict seclusion under the Taliban regime, Afghan women still face a demoledores desafíos: su tasa de alfabetización ronda apenas el 21 por ciento, y en estas elecciones sólo hay dos mujeres entre los 41 candidatos.
“La participación femenina será baja. In some provinces, there have been few women. And in others, the tribal leader came to collect the voting card for all of them, so the process can be adulterated, "said Efe a spokesman for the Afghan Foundation for a Free and Fair Elections (FEFA), Jandar Spinghar.
The two women candidates, said Spinghar, could not move to campaign to rural areas due a la situación de seguridad, que se ha deteriorado en los últimos años, con un incremento de las actividades de los talibanes en grandes zonas del sur y el este.
At campaign events, however, candidates present their ideas for development and reconstruction and promise jobs and opportunities like those claims Madadi Nargis, a young student coming a Kabul desde Wardak (este) que quiere ser doctora.
"We live better than the Taliban, but I think that elections change things. I want to study medicine, but the current situation makes me the way, "says a Efe durante el acto de Ghaní.
His desire, she said to applause, depends largely on Afghanistan return to the path of peace after decades of destruction and armed conflict that poisons the future.

Hundreds of millions of Hindus celebrate the festival of brotherhood

Nueva Delhi, 5 ago 2009.- Un sencillo cordel sirvió hoy a millones de mujeres indias para celebrar la fiesta del “Rakhi”, una tradicional y masiva ceremonia hindú que simboliza la protección de los hermanos y se apoya en las nuevas tecnologías para pervivir.
En virtud del “Raksha Bandhan” -popularmente conocido como “Rakhi”-, las niñas y mujeres deben anudar un cordel en las muñecas de sus hermanos como símbolo de los lazos fraternales y, sobre todo, del atávico deber de protección masculina todavía vigente.
“Para ellas, el 'Rakhi' es la marca del amor y respeto por sus hermanos. Y ellos, a su vez, tienen el deber de proteger a sus hermanas toda la vida”, explicó a Efe una viandante delhí.
Con la luna llena del mes hindú de “shravana”, las indias ayunan hasta que atan el cordel a sus hermanos, para quienes preparan un “thali” o plato compuesto por una lámpara de cerámica, el hilo, azafrán, un ungüento bermellón, granos de arroz, dulces y frutas.
Tras bendecir a sus hermanos, las mujeres les colocan la “pulsera”, les marcan una uñada bermellón en la frente y les ofrecen dulces, mientras que ellos les dan regalos y prometen protegerlas mientras vivan. Luego se sientan a la mesa para romper juntos el ayuno.
“El 'Raksha Bandhan' refuerza la santidad de nuestros lazos familiares tradicionales. Es una oportunidad para superar diferencias y fortalecer los nexos de fraternidad”, declaró en su mensaje de felicitación a los indios el primer ministro, Manmohan Singh.
En la tradición social del subcontinente, la mujer tiene al casarse la obligación de dejar su casa y marcharse a vivir al hogar de la familia del marido, por lo que el “Rakhi” le ofrece la posibilidad de refrendar su unión con quienes dejó atrás.
Pero, en su vertiente práctica, las visitas de hermana a hermano suponen un desafío para las ya de sí congestionadas carreteras de las grandes metrópolis, que cada “Rakhi” registran monumentales atascos de vehículos con mujeres ataviadas con sus mejores galas.
Con el fin de evitar o al menos aliviar la congestión automovilística en Delhi, este año las autoridades han declarado la gratuidad del servicio de autobuses públicos hasta las cinco de la tarde para todas las mujeres.
“Todavía recuerdo la horrible experiencia que tuve el año pasado. Estuve atrapado en un atasco durante una hora. Era fiesta y esperaba que hubiera menos coches. Pero ocurrió justo lo contrario”, aseguró a la agencia india IANS un programador informático, Shobit Sujoy.
Aunque la tradición del “Rakhi” sigue siendo pujante en las ciudades, las crecientes migraciones urbanas y al extranjero han acrecentado la movilidad familiar y, con ella, la distancia entre hermanos adultos, lo que obliga a otras soluciones creativas.
“Con motivo del 'Rakhi', mucha gente usa nuestros servicios. Sobre todo los indios de la diáspora, que están muy lejos. Su mejor opción es hacer regalos on-line a sus seres queridos”, dijo a Efe por teléfono Mukesh Bansal, presidente de la compañía de comercio electrónico “myntra.com”.
Según Bansal, en los últimos tres años las compras de regalos en su portal han registrado “saltos significativos”, gracias a las ventajas que ofrece el reparto en el destino frente al envío por correo, más lento y costoso, cuando no ineficaz.
Aunque “myntra” no ofrece productos adaptados a la fiesta, existen otros portales, como “Picsquare”, que permiten al usuario -en este caso, usuaria- personalizar una “foto-rakhi” de sus hermanos y enviársela por sólo 200 rupias (unos 4 dólares).
Pero los comerciantes tradicionales siguen sin embargo aferrados estos días a sus concurridos tenderetes, con cordeles a la venta por 10 rupias o versiones infantiles con imágenes de Supermán, que hacen las delicias de los más pequeños.
También hay empresarios dispuestos a poner un toque de lujo en esta sencilla ceremonia, como los de Surat (oeste), cuna de los diamantes en la India, que ofrecen “rakhi” con esas y otras piedras preciosas.
Y autoridades comprensivas como las del estado de Punjab (norte), que han autorizado visitas fraternales a todas las cárceles para que los presos también reciban su “rakhi”, según la agencia PTI.
“Yo no tengo hermanas, pero vendrán mis primas. Al final, para lo que sirve el 'Rakhi' es para estar con gente de tu familia que de otra forma no verías, porque todo el mundo está muy ocupado”, dice a Efe el escolar Shreyansh Jain.

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