GOD LOVES AFGHANS- CANADIANS LOVE OUR AFGHANS.... JULY 26 2014 updates
The UN proposed the criteria to the IEC on Thursday July 24 upon an agreement by both candidates.
The statement read, "both candidates indicated to the UN that they had their own respective concerns with the proposal, but were prepared to process with it as a good faith effort based on international best practice to bridge their positions."
According to the UN, both Abdullah and Ghani-Ahmadzai conveyed that the monitoring structure should be finalized in the interest of the nation.
The UN welcomes, as stated, "the statesmanship shown by the candidates in coming to this difficult decision as well as the sincere engagement by their technical teams in preparation of the UN proposal."
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Presidential
Candidates Indicate Support UN Proposal
Saturday,
26 July 2014 14:41 Last Updated on Saturday, 26 July 2014 17:20 Written by
TOLOnews.com
Both presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf
Ghani-Ahmadzai have showed to the United Nations (UN) that they support the
Independent Election Commission (IEC) implementing UN's proposition on the
recount and invalidation of ballots, according to a statement released on
Saturday by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).The UN proposed the criteria to the IEC on Thursday July 24 upon an agreement by both candidates.
The statement read, "both candidates indicated to the UN that they had their own respective concerns with the proposal, but were prepared to process with it as a good faith effort based on international best practice to bridge their positions."
According to the UN, both Abdullah and Ghani-Ahmadzai conveyed that the monitoring structure should be finalized in the interest of the nation.
The UN welcomes, as stated, "the statesmanship shown by the candidates in coming to this difficult decision as well as the sincere engagement by their technical teams in preparation of the UN proposal."
The UN now asks the IEC board to
recognize this legal step and to push the momentum of the audit process forward
so that the next steps of the election process can begin.
Make Afghan Elections Believable, Acceptable-INDIA
By The New Indian
ExpressLast Updated: 26th July 2014 12:48 AM
In a deal mediated by US
secretary of state John Kerry, rival Afghan presidential candidates Abdullah
Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani have agreed to a full UN-supervised audit of the
entire runoff poll and committed to abide by the final results. It may still be
premature to conclude that Kerry has been able to resolve the electoral
dispute. Yet the agreement demonstrates that the US still wields extraordinary
influence over the stakeholders in Afghanistan’s third presidential polls. The
deal calls for an audit of 8.1 million votes, which means that 100 per cent of
the votes cast should be re-checked. This marks another world record set by
Afghanistan.
The huge audit process,
which may take weeks, started within the 24 hours of the announcement under UN
supervision. In the presence of Kerry and Ján Kubiš, the special representative
of the UN general secretary to Afghanistan, both candidates affirmed that they
would accept the audit results. The eventual true winner will form a national
unity government including all-important political entities. The final shape of
the coalition government and modalities for establishing it will be discussed
later.
If the agreement holds and
the winner is able to successfully pick up the reins of power from outgoing
president Hamid Karzai, it will mark the first transition from one nominally
democratically elected leader to another for the nation. Afghanistan and the
world community need this. As 2014 winds down and the last of the foreign
troops prepare to depart the country, a successful transition of power would
somewhat allay fears that the country will implode on their withdrawal. It
props up the belief that the world was right to intervene in the first place.
So far as India is concerned we have the ability to work with whoever comes to
power. But at this point in Afghanistan’s history, the process of elections, whatever
the outcome, must be believable and acceptable to the people.
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China to give more support for Afghanistan's development: Envoy- CHINA
English.news.cn | 2014-07-26 03:52:17 | Editor: yan
KABUL, July 25 (Xinhua) --
China would like to see a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan and will
give more support for the country's reconciliation and economic development,
China's newly-appointed special envoy for Afghan affairs Sun Yuxi said here on
Friday.
Sun said he had had talks
with President Hamid Karzai and presidential candidates former foreign minister
Abdullah Abdullah and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani on separate
occasions since his arrival on Wednesday.
Both candidates promised him
they had reached some agreement and consensus and will work to push forward the
country's peace process and support the formation of a government of ethnic
unity, Sun said.
"They both are expected
to further Afghanistan-China friendship, " he added.
"As for the internal
affairs of Afghanistan," the special envoy said, "we believe that the
Afghan people can handle them well themselves, and we hope to contribute more
to boosting regional cooperation and the country's reconciliation."
During his stay in
Afghanistan, Sun also met with U.S. and European Union ambassadors to the
country as well as the head of United Nations Assistance Mission.
Sun said the international
community would like to see lasting peace and stability in Afghanistan and it
is the common responsibility of the international community to provide
necessary assistance to the country.
China will host the
Afghanistan Istanbul Process Foreign Ministers' Meeting in its northern port
city of Tianjin this year. Sun said the Chinese side hopes to take this
opportunity to discuss future cooperation with Afghanistan's new president and
foreign minister.
The Chinese side also hopes
to maintain and promote the good international cooperation in Afghanistan, he
added.
Sun, a career diplomat who
served as China's ambassador to Afghanistan between 2002 and 2004 and
ambassador to India, Italy and Poland, will also visit Pakistan, Russia, India
and some other countries.
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QUOTE:Most
importantly, Afghans trust Canada, and full Canadian backing for constitutional
reform in Afghanistan would go a long way to redeem the sacrifices Canadian
soldiers and their families have made to Afghan democracy’s great cause.
Glavin:
Fixing mistakes in Afghanistan
By
Terry Glavin, Ottawa Citizen July 16, 2014
Afghanistan's
president Hamid Karzai (R) and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L) speak
during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Kabul, July 13, 2014.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on July 12 held a second day of talks with
Afghanistan's feuding presidential hopefuls, seeking a deal to "clean up
the tally" after disputed elections.
Photograph
by: JIM BOURG , Ottawa Citizen
It is
moving testimony to the statesmanship and generosity of both of Afghanistan’s
leading presidential contenders that U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry has
been allowed to take credit for having pulled Afghanistan back from the abyss.
Discretion being the stuff of valour’s best bits, it wasn’t until well after
Kerry had arrived at the Palais Coburg in Vienna, when all eyes had turned to
his efforts on behalf of the Obama administration’s shambling Iranian nuclear
negotiations, that the full outlines of last weekend’s Kabul agreement were
allowed to leak out.
The
most sweeping, deal-clinching feature of the agreement that ended up unlocking
Afghanistan’s tainted-vote conundrum went wholly unmentioned while Kerry was in
Kabul. It is an arrangement far more complex than the one Kerry announced
Saturday at the United Nations Afghanistan headquarters with UN Afghanistan
director Ján Kubiš at his side. Neither did Kerry say anything about it during
his remarks later in the day at the presidential palace, in the company of
Afghanistan’s twilight president, Hamid Karzai.
Initiated
by Afghanistan’s April 5 first-round vote frontrunner Abdullah Abdullah and
graciously accepted by the come-from-behind June 14 tainted-vote winner Ashraf
Ghani, the arrangement’s central feature is the candidates’ mutual commitment
to a thoroughgoing, long-haul constitutional revolution in Afghanistan.
Leaving
that all unmentioned was necessary to allow Kerry to save face, and not only
because the constitutional-reform project is in aid of undoing the
disfigurements in Afghan democracy that the United States insisted on building
into the country’s political and electoral system a decade ago. It was also
because just one of those malignancies is the presidential vote-rigging toolbox
Karzai and his cronies fully utilized in 2009, which caused precisely the agony
that Kerry himself, while chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
had taken such pains to anaesthetize by his personal interventions in
Afghanistan’s bollixed presidential elections of that year.
What
goes around comes around, as they say.
In
2009, Kerry was oddly credited for convincing Karzai to agree to do what Karzai
was unavoidably obliged by Afghan law to do anyway, which was to submit to the
runoff vote ordered by the Elections Complaints Commission, headed at the time
headed by Canadian Grant Kippen and still independent of Karzai’s grasp, after
the commission’s discovery of vast heaps of faked votes. But Kerry’s neatest
trick back then was to convince Abdullah, Karzai’s most formidable challenger
in 2009?s presidential contest, to pull out of the race for the sake of
“stability” and on the promise that the U.S. would see to it that the country’s
gruesomely manipulable electoral system would be repaired.
That
promise turned out to be hollow. The 2010 parliamentary election was an open
market in counterfeit votes, and by 2012 the Obama administration had given
everybody in Afghanistan the impression that “stability” sufficient to allow a
cheap American exit from the whole scene was the only thing the U.S. cared
about accomplishing in Afghanistan, owing to delicate and “war-weary” domestic
sensibilities, especially within Obama’s Democratic Party base.
Thus,
what both Ghani and Abdullah were left with by the time Karzai’s term was up
this year was an American-monkeywrenched constitution that had allowed Karzai
to turn the country into something that resembled not so much a republic as a
Pashtun khanate, with a bizarre single, non-transferable voting (SNTV) system
otherwise peculiar to such jurisdictions as the Pitcairn Islands, Vanuatu, the
near-absolute monarchy of the Kingdom of Jordan and upper houses of Thailand
and Indonesia (if it strikes you that this isn’t what 158 Canadian solders had
died for in Afghanistan you’d be on the right track, and we’ll return to that
in a moment).
How
things got this way goes back to 2004, when the U.S. wielded its influence over
the architectural drawings for Afghanistan’s post-Taliban constitution in such
a way as to establish a strongman presidency that suited the State Department’s
convenience and a voting system with a built-in, crippling disincentive to
political-party organization. Such was the dysfunction that had left
Afghanistan’s June 14 presidential runoff so prone to the “industrial-scale”
sabotage that ultimately ruined this year’s elections.
Kerry’s
deal brokerage last weekend resulted in two obvious and immediate remedies.
The
first is a total recount of the roughly eight million votes tallied from the
June 14 runoff. The U.S.-led International Security Assistance Force will
return all ballot boxes to Kabul from nearly 24,000 voting districts across
Afghanistan. The UN will oversee a process of examining all the dodgy ballot
boxes, alongside teams of observers assigned by both Ghani and Abdullah.
The
second part is the pledge by both candidates that no matter which of them is
found to be the legitimate winner of the June 14 vote, the other will be
intimately involved in the establishment and administration of a “unity
government.”
Agreeing
to a total recount required a climb-down for Ghani, who had earlier refused to
be cajoled into agreeing to revisit any more than a third of the votes. But the
“unity government” notion had been a key plank in his own election platform
anyway.
The
third and most ambitious aspect of the deal – the constitutional reform
commitment – has been central to Abdullah’s vision for several years. Its
absence from last weekend’s arrangements would have been quite properly a
deal-breaker for Abdullah’s supporters, who are heavily concentrated among
Afghanistan’s largely marginalized, non-Pashtun northerners. For them,
especially, another stolen election would have been an indignity they should
never have been expected to tolerate.
When
Abdullah and Ghani turn their attentions to the hard work of building a
constitutional order suited to Afghanistan, the U.S. would be better situated
at the sidelines. Canada, however, is a country well-equipped to making some
particularly effective use of itself.
Canada’s
unique federal system – the primacy of Parliament, clear constitutional
jurisdictions vested in the provinces, transparent distinctions between the
head of state and head of government, a functioning multi-party system –
provides models that Afghans are already looking at. And Canada’s domestic
politics already exhibit a healthy appetite for initiatives from Ottawa that
would involve non-military and uniquely Canadian contributions “on the world
stage.”
Most
importantly, Afghans trust Canada, and full Canadian backing for constitutional
reform in Afghanistan would go a long way to redeem the sacrifices Canadian soldiers
and their families have made to Afghan democracy’s great cause.
Terry
Glavin is an author and journalist.
-------------------
SWEET JESUS, MOTHER MARY AND JOSEPH.... WE SO ADORE OUR AFGHANS.... AND THEY LOVE CANADIANS...... Praise God.... Praise God...
Canadian Army officer assumes leadership position of NATO Training Mission Afghanistan (NTM-A)
Brigadier-General (BGen) Simon C. Hetherington was welcomed as Commander, NATO Training Mission Afghanistan (NTM-A) during a Transfer of Authority ceremony on July 6, 2014 at the New Kabul Compound in Afghanistan.
Article / July 16, 2014
Ottawa, Ontario — Brigadier-General (BGen) Simon C. Hetherington was welcomed as Commander, NATO Training Mission Afghanistan (NTM-A) during a Transfer of Authority ceremony on July 6, 2014 at the New Kabul Compound in Afghanistan.
“I am honoured to have returned to Afghanistan to serve alongside my Afghan brothers and to continue to build on the successes of my predecessors,” said BGen Hetherington.
Mandated by the United Nations Security Council, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force is supporting the Afghan government, who requested aid in the development of a professional, capable, and sustainable Afghan security force.
The NTM-A, trains, advises, and assists Afghan security forces and is supported by Fort Bragg’s 18th Airborne Corps.
Typically, a leadership position within the 18th Airborne Corps is assumed by a Canadian Army general. In assuming command, BGen Hetherington replaces BGen Wayne D. Eyre as Deputy Commander General of Operations for the 18th Airborne Corps and Commander, NTM-A.
“Afghanistan was Canada’s longest mission since the Second World War, and was the first time, in most Canadians’ lives that we sent soldiers, sailors, and airmen and airwomen into harm’s way in combat. We further demonstrate our leadership in our continued work with the Afghan government through Brigadier-General Hetherington and the NATO Training Mission Afghanistan, helping build a better, brighter future for all Afghan people,” said Lieutenant-General Marquis Hainse, Commander Canadian Army.
BGen Hetherington was born and raised in Oakville, Ontario and joined the Canadian Army as an Artillery Officer in 1983. He started his military career with the First and Second Regiments, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery. He joins the NTM-A from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he most recently took over as the Deputy Commander General – Operations for the 18th Airborne Corps. This will be BGen Hetherington’s third tour in Afghanistan, having previously served with the Canadian Armed Forces in the Kandahar Province.
JULY 10 FROM OUR CANADA- CANADIANS KNOW THAT HONEST ABDULLAH'S WIN IS BEING HIJACKED BY OBAMA/KARZAI/UN AND WORLD BANKING- Abdullah Abdullah is loved deeply by Afghan youth, women, children and elders...... he walked by their side every damm day... and God loves our Afghans.... thank goodness 4 Canadian Journalists and Globe and Mail and other pures like Terry Galvin... 4 being honest.... and angry..... we are not sheep in our Canada.... we are real, raw, righteous in this young nation.... and our troops f**king matter- they won way 2 many victories.... 4 political selling out.... of troops bleeding and dying 4 freedom... HAS VIETNAM TAUGHT US NOTHING??? HAS RWANDA TAUGHT US NOTHING?? ...imho.... my broken heart...
QUOTE:
The first-round presidential
elections in April went surprisingly well. To Karzai’s chagrin, in a field of
eight candidates, Abdullah netted 43.8 per cent of more than seven million
votes cast.
Ghani polled only 32.9 per
cent, but because he was Abdullah’s closest contender, the June run-off race
was an Abdullah-Ghani affair. The wholly unconvincing result: about eight
million votes, with Ghani taking 56.44 per cent and Abdullah 43.56.
Even the Independent
Election Commission agrees that fraud in the runoff vote was massive, and it
involved Karzai’s appointees among Afghanistan’s provincial governors and
senior police officials. Exposed in several leaked telephone conversations, the
operation also involved Karzai’s handpicked IEC chairman, Zia-ul-Haq Amarkhail,
who was forced to resign.
Millions of Afghans did not
shed blood over the past three decades in their gallant struggle for democracy
only to have it sacrificed at the last moment on the altar of what certain NATO
ministers prefer to call “stability.” Since 2001, thousands of Canadian
soldiers have suffered in that struggle, too, and 158 of them never made it
home.
Afghanistan on the brink
Writer Terry Glavin Terry
Glavin July 9, 2014 5:05 PM EDT
AND...
JULY 11, 2014- Thank u Canada's Globe and Mail 4 feeling and sensing Canadians broken hearts over the Global Political betrayal of our beloved Afghanistan.....
Amid my broken heart and can't stop the tears weeping and my screams 2 God who I know loves our Afghans and us as well..... HOW CAN HUMANITY BE TREATED LIKE THROWAWAY TRASH... BY SO FEW PEOPLE IN POWER??? In 2014- how can we be free when this mockery can happen be4 our very eyes... tears and prayers.... and 4 thousands and thousands of us old tarnished and tattered warriors of decency and love and caring... we're done.... we're just done.
FROM CANADA- WE AREN'T BUYING UR POLTICAL OBAMA/KARAZAI/UN/WORLD BANKING SHEEEET..... ABDULLAH WON.... AND THE EVERYDAY PEOPLE LOVE ABDULLAH- HE'S ONE OF THEM... RIGHT ON THE STREET.... Shame on u... u betrayed our troops, Afghans and the world's democracy.... we're done- u are all truly evil...... our troops win freedom; politicians BARTER our freedom and our souls 4 their personal agendas!
Millions of us at home supported unwavering love and devotion 2 our troops- we have been treated like dirt by the politicians, the NewAgeMedia $$$$- IT'S RWANDA ALL OVER AGAIN!
quote:
It’s a depressing turn of events for Afghanistan, which just a few months ago seemed poised for a smooth transition from the long rule of Hamid Karzai. The results of the first presidential ballot, held in April, were credible, with relatively high voter turnout and no evidence of widespread corruption. Mr. Abdullah finished first, with 45 per cent of the vote – 13 points ahead of his closest competitor, Mr. Ghani. The results triggered a run-off between the two leading candidates. The tally from the second vote contrasts sharply with the first. Preliminary counts show Mr. Ghani with more than double the votes he received on the first round – and winning the election, with 56.4 per cent of the vote to Mr. Abdullah’s 43.6 per cent. It’s a staggering shift in the electorate – and many observers believe it’s just not credible. Afghan authorities agree, saying nearly three million votes out of roughly eight million cast should be reviewed.
Globe editorial
Afghanistan’s election started well. It’s ending badly
The Globe and Mail Published Thursday, Jul. 10 2014, 6:30 PM EDT
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/editorials/SOMNIA/article19556578/
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FROM NOVA SCOTIA TO AFGHANISTAN- WOMEN MARCH- 1 BILLION RISING
The dancing demonstrators of One Billion Rising - EURONEWS- IN AFGHANISTAN- THEY MARCHED-
Breaking the chain of violence against girls and women- ONE BILLION RISING
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IuIycEFgVQ
--------------------------
OUR TROOPS DIE, WOUNDED AND SOULS BREAKING FROM TRYING 2 BRING BASIC FREEDOM AND HUMANITY 2 MUSLIM GIRLS AND WOMEN IN THE HARD PARTS OF THE WORLD.... because damm it! they matter! God bless our troops and all the women who step up and join our military.... freedom is a hard word.... but tastes so good- and women and children matter everywhere
Poster Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BZ6aqgvdFI
Poster Girl- (Wrong Side of the World)- From Nova Scotia 2 Afghanistan 2 Australia 2 the world... ONE BILLION RISING- no more abuses... no more excuses- Girl Power Rising Baby- thank u
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HEAVEN WAS NEEDING A HERO- VIDEO
Here are Canada’s fallen heroes:
Sgt. Marc Leger, 29, Lancaster, Ont.
Cpl. Ainsworth Dyer, 24, Toronto, Ont.
Pte. Richard Green, 21, Hubbards, N.S.
Pte. Nathan Smith, 26, Porters Lake, N.S.
Sgt. Robert Short, 42, Fredericton, N.B.
Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger, 29, Ottawa, Ont.
Cpl. Jamie Murphy, 26, Conception Harbour, Nfld.
Pte. Braun Woodfield, 24 , Eastern Passage, N.S.
Glyn Berry, 59, British-born Canadian diplomat.
Cpl. Paul Davis, 28, Bridgewater, N.S.
Master Cpl. Timothy Wilson, 30, Grande Prairie, Alta.
Pte. Robert Costall, 22, Thunder Bay, Ont.
Cpl. Matthew Dinning, 23, Richmond Hill, Ont.
Cpl. Randy Payne, 32, Gananoque, Ont.
Bombardier Myles Mansell 25, Victoria, B.C.
Lieut. William Turner, 44, Toronto, Ont.
Capt. Nichola Goddard, 26, Calgary, Alta. (Canada’s first female soldier killed in combat)
Cpl. Anthony Boneca, 21, reservist, Thunder Bay, Ont.
Cpl. Francisco Gomez, 44, Edmonton, Alta.
Cpl. Jason Warren, 29, Montreal, Que.
Cpl. Christopher Reid, 34, Truro, N.S.
Sgt. Vaughn Ingram, 35, Burgeo, Nfld.
Cpl. Bryce Keller, 27, Regina, Sask.
Pte. Kevin Dallaire, 22, Calgary, Alta.
Master Cpl. Raymond Arndt, 31, Edmonton, Alta.
Master Cpl. Jeffrey Walsh, 33, Regina, Sask.
Cpl. Andrew Eykelenboom, 23, Edmonton, Alta.
Cpl. David Braun, 27, Raymore, Sask.
Sgt. Shane Stachnik, 30, Waskatenau, Alta.
Warrant Officer Frank Mellish, 38, Truro, N.S.
Pte. William Cushley, 21, Port Lambton, Ont.
Warrant Officer Richard Nolan, 39, Mount Pearl, Nfld.
Pte. Mark Graham, 33, Hamilton, Ont.
Pte. David Byers, 22, Espanola, Ont.
Cpl. Shane Keating, 30, Dalmeny, Sask.
Cpl. Keith Morley, 30, Winnipeg, Man.
Cpl. Glen Arnold, 32, McKerrow, Ont.
Pte. Josh Klukie, 23, Thunder Bay, Ont.
Sgt. Craig Gillam, 40, South Branch, Nfld.
Cpl. Robert Mitchell, 30, Owen Sound, Ont.
Trooper Mark Wilson, 39, London, Ont.
Sgt. Darcy Tedford , 32, Earltown, N.S.
Pte. Blake Williamson, 23, Ottawa, Ont.
Chief Warrant Officer Bobby Girouard, 46, Bathurst, N.B.
Cpl. Albert Storm, 36, Fort Erie, Ont.
Cpl. Kevin Megeney, 25, New Glasgow, N.S.
Pte. Kevin Kennedy, 20, St. John’s, Nfld.
Sgt. Donald Lucas, 31, of St. John’s, Nfld.
Cpl. Aaron Williams, 23, Perth-Andover, N.B.
Pte. David Greenslade, 20, Saint John, N.B.
Cpl. Brent Poland, 37, Sarnia, Ont.
Cpl. Christopher Stannix, 24, Dartmouth, N.S.
Master Cpl. Allan Stewart, 31, Newcastle, N.B.
Trooper Patrick James Pentland, 23, Geary, N.B.
Master Cpl. Anthony Klumpenhouwer, 25, Listowel, Ont.
Cpl. Matthew McCully, 25, Orangeville, Ont.
Master Cpl. Darrell Jason Priede, 30, Burlington, Ont.
Trooper Darryl Caswell, 25, Bowmanville, Ont.
Sgt. Christos Karigiannis, 31, Montreal, Que.
Cpl. Stephen Frederick Bouzane, 26, Toronto, Ont.
Pte. Joel Vincent Wiebe, 22, Edmonton, Alta.
Cpl. Cole Bartsch, 23, Whitecourt, Alta.
Capt. Matthew Johnathan Dawe, 27, Kingston, Ont.
Pte. Lane Watkins, 20, Edmonton, Alta.
Cpl. Jordan Anderson, 25, Iqaluit, Nunavut
Master Cpl. Colin Bason, 28, New Westminster, B.C.
Capt. Jefferson Francis, 36, Halifax, N.S.
Pte. Simon Longtin, 23, Longueuil, Que.
Master Warrant Officer Mario Mercier, 43, Weedon, Que.
Master Cpl. Christian Duchesne, 34, Montreal, Que.
Maj. Raymond Ruckpaul, 42, Hamilton, Ont.
Cpl. Nathan Hornburg, 24, Calgary, Alta.
Cpl. Nicolas Raymond Beauchamp, 28, Valcartier, Que.
Pte. Michel Levesque, 25, Valcartier Que.
Gunner Jonathan Dion, 27, Val-d’Or, Que.
Warrant Officer Hani Massouh, 41, Valcartier, Que.
Cpl. Eric Labbe, 31, Rimouski, Que.
Trooper Richard Renaud, 26, Alma, Que.
Sapper Etienne Gonthier, 21, St. Georges, Que.
Trooper Michael Yuki Hayakaze, 25, Edmonton, Alta.
Bombardier Jeremie Ouellet, 22, Matane, Que.
Sgt. Jason Boyes, 32, Napanee, Ont.
Pte. Terry John Street, 24, Hull, Que.
Cpl. Michael Starker, 36, Calgary, Alta.
Capt. Richard Steven Leary, 32, Brantford, Ont.
Capt. Jonathan Sutherland Snyder, 26, Penticton, B.C.
Cpl. Brendan Anthony Downey, 37, Dundurn, Sask.
Pte. Colin William Wilmot, 24, Fredericton, N.B.
Cpl. James Hayward Arnal, 25, Winnipeg, Man.
Master Cpl. Josh Roberts, 29, Prince Albert, Sask.
Master Cpl. Erin Doyle, 32, Edmonton, Alta.
Sgt. Shawn Eades, 33, Hamilton, Ont.
Sapper Stephan Stock, 25, Campbell River, B.C.
Cpl. Dustin Wasden, 20, Spiritwood, Sask.
Pte. Chad Horn, 21, Calgary, Alta.
Cpl. Michael Seggie, 21, Winnipeg. Man.
Cpl. Andrew Grenon, 23, Windsor, Ont.
Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren, 23, Peterborough, Ont.
Pte. Demetrios “Dip” Diplaros, 24, Toronto, Ont.
Warrant Officer Robert John Wilson, 38, Keswick, Ont.
Cpl. Thomas James Hamilton, 26, Truro, N.S.
Pte. John Michael Roy Curwin, 26, Mount Uniacke, N.S.
Pte. Justin Peter Jones, 21, Baie Verte, Nlfd.
Pte. Michael Freeman, 28, Peterborough, Ont.
Warrant Officer Gaétan Roberge, 45, Hanmer, Ont.
Sgt. Gregory John Kruse, 40, Campbelltown, N.B.
Trooper Brian Richard Good, 42, Ottawa, Ont.
Sapper Sean David Greenfield, 25, Pinawa, Man.
Warrant Officer Denis Raymond Brown, 38, St. Catharines, Ont.
Cpl. Dany Olivier Fortin, 29, Baie-Comeau, Que.
Cpl. Kenneth Chad O’Quinn, 25, Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Nfld.
Trooper Marc Diab, 22, Mississauga, Ont.
Master Cpl. Scott Vernelli, 28, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
Cpl. Tyler Crooks, 24, Port Colborne, Ont.
Trooper Jack Bouthillier, 20, Hearst, Ont.
Trooper Corey Joseph Hayes, 22, Ripples, N.B.
Trooper Karine Blais, 21, Les Méchins, Que.
Maj. Michelle Mendes, 30, Wicklow, Ont.
Pte. Alexandre Peloquin, 20, Brownsburg, Que.
Cpl. Martin Dube, 35, Quebec City, Que.
Cpl. Nicholas Bulger, 30, Peterborough, Ont.
Master Cpl. Charles-Philippe Michaud, 28, Edmundston, N.B.
Master Cpl. Pat Audet, 38, Montreal, Que.
Cpl. Martin Joannette, 25, Saint-Calixte, Que.
Pte. Sebastien Courcy, 26, Saint-Hyacinthe, Que.
Cpl. Christian Bobbitt, 23, Sept-Iles, Que.
Sapper Matthieu Allard, 21, Val d’Or, Que.
Cpl. Jean-François Drouin, 21, Beauport, Que.
Maj. Yannick Pepin, 38, Warwick, Que.
Pte. Patrick Lormand, 21, Chute-a-Blondeau, Ont.
Pte Jonathan Couturier, 23, Loretteville, Que.
Lt. Justin Garrett Boyes, 26, Saskatoon, Sask.
Sapper Steven Marshall, 24, Calgary, Alta.
Lt. Andrew Richard Nuttall, 30, Victoria, B.C.
Pte. Garrett William Chidley, 21, Cambridge, Ont.
Cpl. Zachery McCormack, 21, Edmonton, Alta.
Sgt. Kirk Taylor, 28, Yarmouth, N.S.
Sgt. George Miok, 28, Edmonton, Alta.
Sgt. John Faught, 44, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont.
Cpl. Joshua Baker, 24, Edmonton, Alta.
Cpl. Darren Fitzpatrick, 21, Prince George, B.C.
Pte. Tyler William Todd, 26, Kitchener, Ont.
Petty Officer Douglas Craig Blake, 37, Simcoe, Ont.
Pte. Kevin Thomas McKay, 24, Richmond Hill, Ont.
Col. Geoff Parker, 42, Oakville, Ont.
Trooper Larry John Zuidema Rudd, 26, Brantford, Ont.
Sgt. Martin Goudreault, 35, Sudbury, Ont.
Sgt. James MacNeil, 28, Glace Bay, N.S.
Master Cpl. Kristal Giesebrecht, 34, Wallaceburg, Ont.
Pte. Andrew Miller, 21, Sudbury, Ont.
Sapper Brian Collier, 24, Bradford, Ont.
Cpl. Brian Pinksen, 22, Corner Brook, Nfld.
Cpl. Steve Martin, 24, Saint-Cyrille-de-Wendover, Que.
Cpl. Yannick Scherrer, 24, Montreal, Que.
Bombardier Karl Manning, 31, Chicoutimi, Que.
Master Cpl. Byron Greff, 26, Lacombe, Alta.
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VIDEO
Good Morning Freedom - Kubal Dreams
AFGHANISTAN-
Obama/Karzai/United Nations/World "Banking"- CHEATERS CHEATERS.... u
will never b 4given by troops -families and Afghans who love Abdullah who
stayed IN Afghanistan- and walked the talk-
everyday youth, women and elders love the honest man of Afghanistan-
Abdullah Abdullah who won't take ur sheeeeeet and let u pull his strings... the
opponent Ghani hid in USA and even took USA citizenship ... seriously??? all
the blogs posts calls emails supporting our beautiful sons and daughters of r
nations... and this is how u treat the freedoms they won along with the Afghan
troops and cops they trained??? TROOPS WIN FREEDOMS-EVIL POLITICIANS BARTER
THEM AWAY
------------------
SERIOUSLY???
SERIOUSLY????
ECC
Moves Ahead Without Abdullah's Observers Present
Wednesday,
09 July 2014 17:50 Last Updated on Wednesday, 09 July 2014 19:55
The
Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) will move ahead with its complaints
investigations following the announcement of preliminary results earlier this
week, and it will do so without presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah's
observers being present.
Although
the ECC, like the IEC, has defended the credibility of the process that has
been overseen since the June 14 runoff election, some former election officials
and monitoring groups have questioned whether vote counting and fraud
investigations should be allowed to move forward while one of the candidates
remains estranged from the commissions.
As
of now, the ECC will be reviewing only complaints filed by Ashraf Ghani
Ahmadzai, and will do so without the presence Abdullah's observers. Abdullah's
observers have been absent from the commissions for over three weeks, since he
announced his decision to boycott the process until his concerns about fraud
are addressed.
"Elections
commissions are making fun of the institution and people of Afghanistan,"
former IEC Chairman Fazel Ahmad Manawi said on Wednesday. "As you know,
the election law says that any audit and review must be in the presence of
candidates' representatives, but, unfortunately, the IEC continued its work in
absence of Abdullah Abdullah representatives, and now the ECC is doing the same
thing."
But
it appears disapproval of the way the process has been handled by the
commissions does not stop at former members. Within the current IEC staff there
appears to be some division over how best to proceed.
Azizullah
Ariafar, a current member of the IEC, has decided to boycott the meetings of
the commission in show of opposition to the continuing of the process without
Abdullah's representatives being present.
"The
presence of rival representatives during the addressing of complaints is a
must, and in their absence, any decision or addressing of complaints is
illegal," Ariafar asserted.
However,
Waleed Akbar Sarwary, the Technical Deputy of the ECC Secretariat, maintained
that the election law does allow them to address complaints in the absence of
observers from one of the candidates.
"In
election law and other codes, it is very clear that if one side of the case is
not present, the court cannot stop its work, so our work addressing complaints
is legal," Sarwary said.
------------------
Afghanistan:
Beyond ethnic politics and 'jihad dividends'
After a highly personality-driven electoral process, contested results have put Afghanistan's stability at risk.
Aljazeera 07 Jul 2014 By Davood Moradian
Afghanistan appears to be joining the group of countries that produce contested elections. Unlike the universally commended first round of the presidential election in which Afghan voters and security forces bled for democracy, the second round has resulted in the polarisation of Afghan society. A joint, skilful, patient and firm intervention from the international community could prove essential in salvaging the country's nascent democracy and fragile stability.
One of the two presidential contenders, Abdullah Abdullah, is convinced that President Hamid Karzai and the electoral institution are colluding to deny him the presidency for a second time - just as he claimed in the wake of the presidential election in 2009. Abdullah's opponent, Ashraf Ghani, appears to believe it is a matter of time before he succeeds the outgoing president.
Ghani is confident that he has achieved the necessary numbers for the presidency - that's based on the Independent Election Commission's (IEC) preliminary count. Ghani may also be banking on the West's desperation for signing their security agreements with Kabul before the NATO Summit.
The leak of alleged audio recordings of Ghani's camp, electoral officials and government officials have reinforced Abdullah's conviction of an "industrial scale fraud" in Ghani's favour. Abdullah's powerful supporters - including presumably the former chief of Afghan intelligence, Amrullah Saleh and Balkh Governor Ustad Atta - have threatened to establish a "parallel government" should the Afghan electoral bodies and government unilaterally follow the electoral calendar.
This course of action, of course, is likely to result in civil war and partition. Fortunately, there are few members on either team who would want to take the country in that direction.
Worst case scenario
However, their miscalculation of their own strengths - and their rival's weaknesses - may inadvertently create the conditions necessary for the worst case scenario. There is a growing recognition of the need for creative solutions to protect Afghanistan's political stability, national unity, and democratic governance.
The process of democratisation is primarily political. Technical expertise and legal frameworks such as the electoral calendar can facilitate a viable political process. Based on this principle, we can only follow the electoral calendar within the context of an inclusive and legitimate political process. Another principle is accountability. Unfortunately, unchecked impunity enabled massive fraud in the 2009 presidential election. The lack of accountability produced a weak president and likewise undermined the authority of the Afghan electoral institution.
At this stage, fair and impartial authorities must investigate all allegations of election fraud with transparent processes if we are to avoid facing similar consequences.
Another principle is constitutionality. Afghanistan's fragile stability and nascent democracy are mainly sustained by an enlightened constitutional order, and all electoral processes must be executed within a constitutional framework. Expediency, appeasement, and a narrow vision often solve acute problems while deepening chronic ones, and therefore must be avoided.
Another guiding principle is the democratic principle. Democratic politics are based on a democratic principle rather than hereditary entitlement. In a multi-ethnic polity such as Afghanistan, the electoral majority should be counted, rather than rely on notions of ethnic supremacy or even a jihad dividend - a term that alludes to the claim by some former mujahideen groups that they are entitled to positions of power due to their role in the "jihad" against the Soviets.
The primacy of non-violent discourse and the rejection of fear mongering is another principle. Neither the threat of partition, nor parallel government, and the threat of the Taliban's return and a sense of ethnic entitlement can be inserted as an electoral mandate.
The other principle is the compatibility of process and result, where both should be constitutional, legitimate, inclusive, and credible. International mediation is an essential element in the process. Any such mediation should be comprised of three mutually reinforcing entities: diplomatic interventions by concerned governments, the United Nations, and a group of respected elder statesmen (and women).
The international community, particularly the US, has a legitimate right and responsibility to be concerned about the implication of a constitutional breakdown in Afghanistan, which would have wider regional and global consequences. The UN's intervention is necessary but not sufficient. Unfortunately, the UN's previous record in Afghanistan, its compromised relations with big powers and its bureaucratic and careerist culture have undermined the authority, competency, and credibility of the UN.
A group of respected elder statesmen can complement and support diplomatic and UN interventions. Such persons should be known as authoritative, knowledgeable, impartial and empathetic. Fortunately, there are many individuals among Afghanistan's international partners that meet such criteria. These including, to name a few, Pakistani Senator Mahmoud Khan Achekzai, former US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann, former NATO envoy to Kabul Hikmet Cetin, former Japanese envoy to Afghanistan Sadako Ogata, former Indian National Security Adviser, Shivshankar Menon, former Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and former UN envoy to Afghanistan Tom Koenigs.
Peaceful power transfer
A key question is over the role Karzai plays in the process. In his public statements, he has assured the Afghan people and the international community of his unwavering commitment to transfer power peacefully and democratically. However, consistent with his patterns of behaviour, he was torn apart by his Machiavellian, tribal and pseudo-democratic impulses. Karzai has pursued conflicting objectives: remaining an indispensable player in any Afghanistan-related process and a saviour of any potential gridlock, followed by his skilfully disguised ethnic bias and maintaining respectability in the international community.
As a political gambler and a master tactician, Karzai is likely to continue playing his two trademark strategies with Afghans and the international community. With Afghans, his strategy is based on bribe, divide, and manipulate, whereas with the international community he has pursued a strategy that can best be described as threaten, confuse, and manipulate. The international community and the Afghan people must be united in confronting Karzai's highly dangerous game and hold him accountable for his constitutional responsibility and personal promises.
Afghanistan's highly centralised governance structure has made the presidential election a personality-driven winner-takes-all process. Furthermore, it is based on an implicitly ethnic-based distribution of power, categorising Afghan ethnic groups into larger and lesser groups. In the absence of a verifiable nationwide census, ethnic majority and minority groups remain contested and polarising. As part of a wider and deeper reform, Afghanistan's highly centralised and ethnic-based politics should become more diffused, democratic, civic, institutional, and transparent.
Fortunately, abundant political will remains to find constitutionally inclusive solutions to Afghanistan's electoral gridlock, provided all stakeholders mobilise and synergise their efforts. If this becomes a reality, Afghanistan's arduous journey towards democratisation will become irreversible and an inspiration to the region's democratic constituencies. If not, an unresolved electoral dispute will push the country and the surrounding region into a black hole of insecurity.
After a highly personality-driven electoral process, contested results have put Afghanistan's stability at risk.
Aljazeera 07 Jul 2014 By Davood Moradian
Afghanistan appears to be joining the group of countries that produce contested elections. Unlike the universally commended first round of the presidential election in which Afghan voters and security forces bled for democracy, the second round has resulted in the polarisation of Afghan society. A joint, skilful, patient and firm intervention from the international community could prove essential in salvaging the country's nascent democracy and fragile stability.
One of the two presidential contenders, Abdullah Abdullah, is convinced that President Hamid Karzai and the electoral institution are colluding to deny him the presidency for a second time - just as he claimed in the wake of the presidential election in 2009. Abdullah's opponent, Ashraf Ghani, appears to believe it is a matter of time before he succeeds the outgoing president.
Ghani is confident that he has achieved the necessary numbers for the presidency - that's based on the Independent Election Commission's (IEC) preliminary count. Ghani may also be banking on the West's desperation for signing their security agreements with Kabul before the NATO Summit.
The leak of alleged audio recordings of Ghani's camp, electoral officials and government officials have reinforced Abdullah's conviction of an "industrial scale fraud" in Ghani's favour. Abdullah's powerful supporters - including presumably the former chief of Afghan intelligence, Amrullah Saleh and Balkh Governor Ustad Atta - have threatened to establish a "parallel government" should the Afghan electoral bodies and government unilaterally follow the electoral calendar.
This course of action, of course, is likely to result in civil war and partition. Fortunately, there are few members on either team who would want to take the country in that direction.
Worst case scenario
However, their miscalculation of their own strengths - and their rival's weaknesses - may inadvertently create the conditions necessary for the worst case scenario. There is a growing recognition of the need for creative solutions to protect Afghanistan's political stability, national unity, and democratic governance.
The process of democratisation is primarily political. Technical expertise and legal frameworks such as the electoral calendar can facilitate a viable political process. Based on this principle, we can only follow the electoral calendar within the context of an inclusive and legitimate political process. Another principle is accountability. Unfortunately, unchecked impunity enabled massive fraud in the 2009 presidential election. The lack of accountability produced a weak president and likewise undermined the authority of the Afghan electoral institution.
At this stage, fair and impartial authorities must investigate all allegations of election fraud with transparent processes if we are to avoid facing similar consequences.
Another principle is constitutionality. Afghanistan's fragile stability and nascent democracy are mainly sustained by an enlightened constitutional order, and all electoral processes must be executed within a constitutional framework. Expediency, appeasement, and a narrow vision often solve acute problems while deepening chronic ones, and therefore must be avoided.
Another guiding principle is the democratic principle. Democratic politics are based on a democratic principle rather than hereditary entitlement. In a multi-ethnic polity such as Afghanistan, the electoral majority should be counted, rather than rely on notions of ethnic supremacy or even a jihad dividend - a term that alludes to the claim by some former mujahideen groups that they are entitled to positions of power due to their role in the "jihad" against the Soviets.
The primacy of non-violent discourse and the rejection of fear mongering is another principle. Neither the threat of partition, nor parallel government, and the threat of the Taliban's return and a sense of ethnic entitlement can be inserted as an electoral mandate.
The other principle is the compatibility of process and result, where both should be constitutional, legitimate, inclusive, and credible. International mediation is an essential element in the process. Any such mediation should be comprised of three mutually reinforcing entities: diplomatic interventions by concerned governments, the United Nations, and a group of respected elder statesmen (and women).
The international community, particularly the US, has a legitimate right and responsibility to be concerned about the implication of a constitutional breakdown in Afghanistan, which would have wider regional and global consequences. The UN's intervention is necessary but not sufficient. Unfortunately, the UN's previous record in Afghanistan, its compromised relations with big powers and its bureaucratic and careerist culture have undermined the authority, competency, and credibility of the UN.
A group of respected elder statesmen can complement and support diplomatic and UN interventions. Such persons should be known as authoritative, knowledgeable, impartial and empathetic. Fortunately, there are many individuals among Afghanistan's international partners that meet such criteria. These including, to name a few, Pakistani Senator Mahmoud Khan Achekzai, former US ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann, former NATO envoy to Kabul Hikmet Cetin, former Japanese envoy to Afghanistan Sadako Ogata, former Indian National Security Adviser, Shivshankar Menon, former Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and former UN envoy to Afghanistan Tom Koenigs.
Peaceful power transfer
A key question is over the role Karzai plays in the process. In his public statements, he has assured the Afghan people and the international community of his unwavering commitment to transfer power peacefully and democratically. However, consistent with his patterns of behaviour, he was torn apart by his Machiavellian, tribal and pseudo-democratic impulses. Karzai has pursued conflicting objectives: remaining an indispensable player in any Afghanistan-related process and a saviour of any potential gridlock, followed by his skilfully disguised ethnic bias and maintaining respectability in the international community.
As a political gambler and a master tactician, Karzai is likely to continue playing his two trademark strategies with Afghans and the international community. With Afghans, his strategy is based on bribe, divide, and manipulate, whereas with the international community he has pursued a strategy that can best be described as threaten, confuse, and manipulate. The international community and the Afghan people must be united in confronting Karzai's highly dangerous game and hold him accountable for his constitutional responsibility and personal promises.
Afghanistan's highly centralised governance structure has made the presidential election a personality-driven winner-takes-all process. Furthermore, it is based on an implicitly ethnic-based distribution of power, categorising Afghan ethnic groups into larger and lesser groups. In the absence of a verifiable nationwide census, ethnic majority and minority groups remain contested and polarising. As part of a wider and deeper reform, Afghanistan's highly centralised and ethnic-based politics should become more diffused, democratic, civic, institutional, and transparent.
Fortunately, abundant political will remains to find constitutionally inclusive solutions to Afghanistan's electoral gridlock, provided all stakeholders mobilise and synergise their efforts. If this becomes a reality, Afghanistan's arduous journey towards democratisation will become irreversible and an inspiration to the region's democratic constituencies. If not, an unresolved electoral dispute will push the country and the surrounding region into a black hole of insecurity.
---------------
Afghan election: US Senator Carl Levin makes audit call
BBC News 6 July 2014
A senior US senator says he expects the Afghan Election Commission to conduct a "comprehensive audit" of polls cast in the presidential run-off.
The appeal was made by the visiting Senator Carl Levin ahead of preliminary results being announced on Monday.
It comes amid concern that fraud allegations during last month's vote are not being taken seriously.
Both presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani have made allegations of foul play.
However Mr Abdullah has warned that he will not accept the preliminary result unless what he called "unclean votes" were eliminated.
Inflated turnout figures
The BBC's Karen Allen in Kabul says that Mr Levin's intervention appears to appease both sides in the contested presidential race.
He called for the promises made by the election authorities behind closed doors to be translated into action. The senator said that both candidates had agreed to an audit.
Our correspondent says that his audit call comes amid complaints from several quarters that fraud allegations are not being taken seriously.
Just under 2,000 out of a total of more than 20,000 polling stations where there are complaints have been investigated.
Afghanistan is under pressure to deliver a credible election in order to continue receiving foreign aid and avert a political crisis in a country where historically disputes have been fought along ethnic lines, our correspondent says.
The election is the first time that power in Afghanistan has been democratically transferred.
Mr Abdullah won 45% of the first-round vote, with Mr Ghani securing 31.6% - neither achieved the 50% needed to avoid a second round.
As most foreign soldiers prepare to withdraw by the end of this year, the next president will face multiple challenges.
Taliban insurgents remain active, the economy is weak, corruption is endemic and the rule of law goes largely unenforced.
-
-----------
Afghan Election Dispute Forcing Western Officials to Take a Stand
Afghanistan Election Dispute Draws More Calls for Vote Audit
New York Times By AZAM AHMED JULY 6, 2014
KABUL, Afghanistan - A growing number of Western officials are calling for an audit of the ballots cast in the Afghan presidential election, increasing the likelihood that the nation’s electoral commission will have to formally reassess the June 14 runoff vote even as it prepares to announce preliminary results.
Ever since Afghans voted in the runoff, the system has been deadlocked by allegations of widespread fraud. The presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah has consistently complained that his opponent, Ashraf Ghani, with the help of the commission and other Afghan officials, rigged the vote.
Mr. Abdullah spent weeks threatening to walk away from the process, and his brinkmanship now appears to be paying off. The continued political crisis has forced some international figures off the bench, despite earlier efforts to avoid the appearance of involvement in the Afghan elections.
Mr. Abdullah has prodded, probed and cajoled both his government and the international community to get involved. He has called the system illegitimate, staged protests and leaked numerous tapes purporting to show election officials conspiring to rig the election in favor of Mr. Ghani.
Now, seemingly recognizing the potential that the political crisis has to turn violent and threaten long-term Western interests in Afghanistan, more international officials are starting to get involved. The most recent voice was that of Senator Carl Levin, Democrat of Michigan, who spoke to reporters in Kabul on Sunday.
Joined by the American ambassador, James B. Cunningham, Mr. Levin raised the prospect of a dual announcement on Monday, in which Afghan officials would both release preliminary results and announce an audit that would be satisfactory to both candidates.
Just hours later, however, Mr. Abdullah pressed the commission to delay the release until fraudulent ballots have been identified and discarded. While there have been no official results, leaked reports suggested that Mr. Ghani had reversed Mr. Abdullah’s lead from the first round and was ahead in the vote count.
Officials from Mr. Abdullah’s campaign also indicated that the two sides had not reached an agreement on the extent of the audit.
“Until the clean votes are separated from the unclean, we will not accept the result,” Mr. Abdullah said. “Once they are separated, we have nothing to say and will accept the result.”
It was unclear whether the election commission would go through with the release, as promised. The commission has so far delayed results on more than one occasion to help ease the political crisis.
Senator Levin, who warned of dire consequences if the election did not proceed, was only the latest American official to visit Kabul in the past few weeks. Ambassador James Dobbins, the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan who announced last week that he is stepping down, was recently in town to urge the candidates to stick with the process.
After Mr. Dobbins came two Republican senators, John McCain of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who encouraged a thorough audit and also made clear that American aid for Afghanistan would almost certainly dry up if the political crisis was not resolved.
But perhaps the most direct, and first, admonition came from the European Union, which released a strong statement suggesting that an initial audit of 1,930 polling centers was insufficient to unearth all of the fraud.
The monitor said the commission should also take into account “highly improbable votes for one single candidate in polling stations, or unlikely discrepancies between female and male votes.” All told, according to the statement, “the number of problematic polling stations could well exceed 6,000 out of a total of 22,828.”
Seeking common ground, the candidates’ teams have been meeting to discuss an audit, an arrangement brokered with the help of Vice President Yunus Qanooni, among others. A central issue in the talks has been what criteria to use to identify questionable ballot boxes. The election commission has been using polling stations where 599 or more votes were cast, which is how it came up with the original 1,930-station audit.
But Mr. Abdullah’s camp is pressing for more in-depth reviews, arguing that the single criterion catches only the most blatant fraud. In one of the audio recordings leaked by his campaign, people alleged to be election officials are recorded telling others to avoid stuffing ballot boxes with enough votes to set off the fraud review.
The European Union echoed those fears in its statement, released on Thursday.
“I hope that the I.E.C. will be able, in agreement with both candidates, to perform a more in-depth audit,” said Thijs Berman, the chief European Union election observer, referring to the Afghan Independent Election Commission.
So far, the election commission has been reluctant to agree to all of Mr. Abdullah’s demands, which include a broad audit that takes into account seven or eight potential fraud triggers not currently used in the official process. The campaign is especially interested in mostly pro-Ghani provinces where the voter turnout was said to have tripled from the first round.
Underlying the political tensions are ethnic ones.
In a country with a history of ethnic and factional violence, Mr. Abdullah, who is of mixed ethnicity, owes much of his support to ethnic Tajiks, some of whom view the election process as rigged to keep their leaders out of office. Mr. Ghani is of Pashtun ethnicity, the country’s largest, and has garnered widespread backing from that community.
Indeed, the government on Sunday discussed banning Facebook because of the vitriol circulating on social media surrounding the election, but opted not to.
“There were fears that social media is being misused by a number of people to spread hate and harm the national unity and stability,” said Adela Raz, a spokeswoman for President Hamid Karzai. “We have seen many issues affiliated with ethnicity and race recently on social media.”
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BLOGGED:
CANADA
MILITARY NEWS: July 2 2014- Edward Snowden hero/War and bankruptcy- NATO MUST
DIE OUT- they betray our troops coming home with mental health issues and
wounded- UN $$$trillions in waste and feeding gun and war supplies whilst
humanity starves and suffers/FLASHBOYS- the hijacking of stocks by cheaters in
the play money game/ WWI- War Bonds created the huge travesty of Great
Depression... and now we are in another one/Canada News/Afghanisan Abdullah
rightful winner/F**king Paedophiles/Canada Day/Youth Homelessness and abuse
/Mental Health Stigma challenge/news tidbits/RICH WHITE MEN USA/EU/AUSSIELAND-
and their fracking and ruination of our planet- GET OUT OF UKRAINE stop
creating a war there- shame on u/FRACKING/Children of the Secret- One Billion
Rising-No more excuses
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BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS:
Afghanistan and Afghans best news- lookee Russia, China, India, Pakistan
stepping up- Afghan's awesome Military and Cops and Afghans- the good stuff u
don't see- BUT IT'S THERE- loving our troops since 2001
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blogged:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: June
22/Canada/Afghanistan/IDLE NO MORE-Canada-Aussies/CHEATER-CHEATER- from banks
stealing from the poor 2 governments stealing our privacy… cheater-cheater
----------------
BLOGGED:
Please make basic humanity
matter and take care of your own nations…. United Nations was formed 2 be the
saviours of humanity not the greedy oil/energy fighting and destroying of our
planet whilst billions starve and die on politicians who have lost their way…
imho IDLE NO MORE CANADA… IDLE NO MORE WORLD
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BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: June
22/Canada/Afghanistan/IDLE NO MORE-Canada-Aussies/CHEATER-CHEATER- from banks
stealing from the poor 2 governments stealing our privacy… cheater-cheater
-----------------
BLOGGED WAY BACK IN SEPTEm BER... TONS OF BLOG ON AFTHANISTAN...
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Sept
1- AFGHANISTAN news- Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, the Nelson Mandela of Afghanistan
and hopefully next President 2014/ Pls note the no. countries Girls DON'T get
education equality/ Repatriation and Remembering Canada's finest who gave all
in Afghanistan 158 photos- God bless Afghanistan and Nato troops/September 11,
2001- photos and list of Canadians -World Trade Center
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blogged:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS JUNE
23, 2014-Afghanistan-1960s remember- HEADS UP -Pakistani Rebels and Suicide
Attackers slither in2 our Afghanistan -Hey Canada n USA etc. Wld u die 2 vote 4
ur countries like r Afghans? - AFGHANS BRING PRIDE 2 NATO TROOPS AND AFGHAN
TROOPS AND POLICING APRIL 5, 2014- they are rising up and defiant and proud
showing the world how 2 be free at last- no taliban gonna take their world no
more... no way- Whilst UN, EU,USA, Canada politicians hijack our world and turn
humanity in2 ashes-Ukraine4oil.... Afghanistan rises us up/DAILY UPDATES
AFGHANISTAN- Kabul Dreams -Good Morning Freedom
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BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: July
1- Happy Dominion-Canada Day Folks-147 years young/videos/news/updates/Idle No
More/One Billion Rising/We'll keep the Peter MacKays thx/NewAgeMedia letting
down girls, tweens, teens n youth/Afghan/ALWAYS R TROOPS/bLOGS/ Thank u God 4
loving our Canada- young, beautiful, brilliant, smart.... protected and free.
----------------
blogged:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS:
Afghanistan June 24- AFGHANISTAN ELECTION HIJACKED IN 2ND RUNOFF- it seems
Ahmadzai (the Afghan Contender who- Hightailed and crawled and hid in USA
during 13 year war of Afghanistan-taking American Citizenship) has won the
runoff?? WHILST ... DR. ABDULLAH ABDULLAH- who stayed with this brothers and
sisters of Afghanistan during the whole 13 year war- side by side- who won 1st
ballot 45% BUT LOST 2ND BALLOT 2 AN AFGHAN coward???- Obama/Karazi/UN- shame on
u.
----------------------
BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: June 9- OBAMA AND NATO BETRAY OUR TROOPS AND AFGHANS
AND SHAME THE WORLD- just 2 participate in a white mans war that they have
created with Canada and EU. Shame on the lot of u.... u disgrace our troops of
our nations and slap the faces of Afghan women and children/Adfghan news
updates/troop love/Dr. Abdullah Abdullah - Good Morning Freedom /UKRAINE BEING
HIJACKED BY NATO AND USA, CANADA AND EU/Afghanistan and our Nations troops
betrayed by American President/Ukraine betrayed by West dogma- $$$ 2 Ukraine
NOT Home Nations troop healing and education???
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BLOGGED
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: April
14- United States, Europe, Canada etc. ur hypocracy is telling- why not fix ur
own countries horrible injustices and severe breakdown of communication of the
people u serve- WTF??? seriously- get away from Ukraine- and stop slapping
Russia and China when ur warts are as deep- IDLE NO MORE AMERICAS FIRST
PEOPLES- u are all immigrants 4 God's sake.
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BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: July
4th- Beautiful Kurdish People- Pray they get their own State from Iraq- The
human extermination by Saddam Hussein (and he didn't have weapons of
destruction- just ask the Kurds and history)- God bless the Kurds - HISTORY -
Jordan and Israel step up 4 Kurds
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BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS:
Jun21Pg3/Celebrate Canada Aboriginal Day/Afghanistan betrayals n
loyalty/Hunting Paedophiles/the good stuff/r Nato troops matter
----------------
BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS:-
Jun23-/ISAF-AFGHANISTAN/Help4Alberta/Canada’s Military-honour 158/CANADA-
Adding Up Kandahar-BEST ARTICLE EV-A/We remember victims of
terrorism/Environm/Canada
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blogged:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS:
African Muslims - Slave Trade by Arab Muslims - over 1,000 years- it's time 2
stop it- videos- photos- proof... SHAME
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BLOGGED:
CANADA MILITARY NEWS: Killer
-XBox-GameBoy YOUNGBLOODS of 'civilized nations'???- 2 many Young and
youthHereticMuslims butchering innocents in Muslim on Muslim wars return home
2R 'civilized' nations ??? Seriously- we posted this last year.... WTF Canada/US/EU/Asias/Africa/Australia-NewZealand/Europe/Russia/UN???
(1st published Jan.2014)
-------------------
VIDEO- WE ARE CANADIAN SOLDIERS
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