Abdul Rasul Sayyaf: announced his candidacy this
week
A former Islamist warlord who trained 9/11
terrorists and the Bali Bombers has
nominated to run for the Presidency of Afghanistan
Abdul Rasul Sayyaf announced his candidacy this week, three
days ahead of the deadline, by driving a motorcade of armed mujahideen through
the capital Kabul.
The 67-year-old warlord, also allegedly the man who invited
Osama bid Laden to live in Afghanistan and made a base for his al Qaeda network
there, had long been rumoured to be putting together a ticket of resistance
fighters for the April 5 poll.
‘‘I don’t want fame or power for myself,’’ he said, lodging
his papers at the electoral commission, ‘‘I’m looking to preserve the nation.’’
Sayyaf, who fought against Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 80s, was
named in the 9/11 Commission Report as the ‘‘mentor’’ of Khalid Sheikh
Mohammed, the principal architect of the 2001 attacks on New York and
Washington.
He also ran militant training camps throughout the 80s and 90s
in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Ten of the men involved in the 2002 Bali bombing, including
Mukhlas and bomb-maker Umar Patek, are believed to have trained at Sayyaf’s
Sadda militant camp near Peshawar.
Two hundred and two people, including 88 Australians, died
in the Bali blasts. Patek is serving 20 years in jail, Mukhlas was executed by
firing squad.
Sayyaf was an enemy of the Taliban, however, and sided with
the US after its 2001 invasion.
While he is the most conservative of the four men who have
nominated for President so far, especially on women’s rights and social
freedoms, he is seen as a credible contender for power, especially given his
close links to the incumbent President.
The horse-trading for who will run for President of
Afghanistan has reached its zenith as this Sunday’s deadline for nomination
approaches.
With political parties almost non-existent, ideologies and
policy platforms fluid, most of the manoeuvring ahead of the deadline involves
building a ticket with sufficiently diverse tribal and geographic
representation to attract broad support.
A candidate’s ‘‘vote bank’’ — swathes of support built by
years of pork-barrelling, protection, and promises of more — along with ability
to raise money are key criteria too.
The accepted wisdom appears to be that a Pashtun, Afghan’s
largest ethnic group, should head the ticket, supported by a Tajik and a Hazara
as nominees for the vice-presidential roles (there are two).
President Hamid Karzai is constitutionally banned from
running for a third term, but the Karzai name is still expected on the ballot
paper.
President Karzai’s older brother Qayum Karzai, is expected
to nominate before the deadline, and will attract considerable support from
those loyal to the first family.
Qayum has run a restaurant in Baltimore for more than two
decades, but he is also heavily involved in the back-channels of Afghan
politics. His business dealings in the south of country have attracted
allegations of serious corruption.
But the favourite for the April poll will be Afghanistan’s
main opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah.
Dr Abdullah leads the National Coalition of Afghanistan and
was runner up to Karzai in the first round of voting in the 2009 election. He
dropped out of the run-off vote alleging massive voter fraud.
Dr Abdullah, an ophthalmologist by profession, is of Tajik
and Pashtun descent, and has included a Pashtun, Mohammad Khan, and a Hazara,
Mohammad Mohaqeq, as his running mates.
Both vice-presidential candidates are former warlords
however, and their selection has led to criticism an Abdullah Presidency would
bring little reform.
Dr Abdullah was close to anti-Communist mujahideen commander
Ahmad Shah Massoud in the late 1980s, and was part of the alliance that toppled
the Taliban in 2001. He was President Karzai’s foreign minister until he
resigned to join the opposition in 2006.
The president is an all-powerful position in Afghanistan’s
nascent, and fragile democracy.
There are few checks and balances on the power of the
office, which has given rise to persistent and credible allegations that Hamid
Karzai has abused his position, indulging in undisguised patronage, and
benefiting from his administration’s endemic corruption.
Whoever succeeds Karzai as President inherits a challenging
mandate, reviving a moribund economy, maintaining security as foreign troops
leave, and brokering a peace with the Taliban.
But despite the problems facing their democracy, Afghans are
enthusiastic about the opportunity to cast a ballot. A recent survey found 79
per cent of Afghan adults intended to vote.
The Taliban has vowed to derail the elections. Gunmen shot
dead a provincial election commissioner in a busy street in Kunduz last month.
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