Former Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah says despite Canada's military and political efforts in Afghanistan, the recent election that was compromised by widespread fraud shows there is no guarantee the war-torn country is headed towards democracy.
In an exclusive interview with CTV's South Asia Bureau Chief Janis Mackey Frayer, Abdullah said he wished the recent elections would have had a different outcome, so Canadians could look upon them "as a worthwhile effort," and be buoyed by the fact that democratic reforms were indeed on their way for millions of Afghans.
"But the only thing that today I can say at this stage (is that Canadians should care) because of the threats and security, for the security of your country and the stability in this region, and world peace," Abdullah said.
"Otherwise, I should have been able to tell you as your answer that as a result of your efforts, millions of people in this country are enjoying their democratic rights. It's what they deserved. So a lot has happened because of your contributions in this country, but there is no doubt that some of those achievements are at great risk, including the democratic process."
Abdullah's harsh assessment of the election outcome's ramifications comes days after Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission acclaimed incumbent Hamid Karzai and cancelled a runoff between the two candidates that had been scheduled for Nov. 7.
Karzai had the most votes following the August 20 presidential election, according to the preliminary results.
However, after a UN-backed panel threw out nearly one-third of his vote tally because of fraud, Karzai did not have the 50 per cent minimum support needed to avoid a runoff against Abdullah, the country's former foreign minister.
But the runoff was cancelled after Abdullah withdrew and charged that a second election would also likely be marred by irregularities.
Abdullah had made a series of demands in order to remain in the runoff, including the firing of the head of the Election Commission, who was appointed by Karzai. However, Karzai refused to agree to that, or Abdullah's other demands.
"I believe in the people's participation and delegation of authority, the devolution of power," Abdullah told Mackey Frayer. "While in Mr. Karzai's case he believes in concentration of all power in one centre, one office."
Abdullah repeated earlier statements that he would not join Karzai's government, but would instead work for change from the outside.
"We should rescue (the struggle for democratic principles), we should rescue it. We shouldn't get disappointed, because the failure to do so, the failure to continue our effort in rescuing these principles, that will mean a victory for the Taliban," Abdullah said.
"So it's for the millions and millions of people in this country, those who didn't vote, who couldn't vote, but believed in the one person, one vote principle, and they are (still) willing to contribute. So we need to make the efforts, and I'm dedicated to that."
