Afghanistan Postpones Presidential Elections

Afghanistan's presidential elections, due this year, were delayed by several months today and serious concerns remain about whether the polls can be held even by the new date in August.

President Hamid Karzai's term officially expires in May, but electoral officials announced the delay to allow time to improve security. The brutal success of the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan means that much of the south and east of the country is mired in violence, making electioneering and voting highly dangerous.

The announcement of a date, 20 August, by Afghanistan's election commission is likely to bring out a number of candidates to challenge Karzai. It puts the onus on the new Barack Obama administration to decide whether Washington will continue to back the incumbent.

"If the Americans are looking for continuity and stability, Mr Karzai is their candidate," said Haroun Mir, the deputy director of Afghanistan's Centre for Research and Policy Studies, an independent thinktank in Kabul. "If they want to look for change, I don't think that President Karzai is the kind of person who can bring change in Afghanistan."

There has been increasingly pointed criticism of Karzai from US officials, with his government seen as ineffectual and riddled with corruption. Obama has made Afghanistan the centerpiece of his foreign policy, so much rides on stabilizing the country.

Obama and the US military are constructing a new policy for Afghanistan that will involve doubling the number of American soldiers deployed there over the next few months to around 60,000, as well as engaging Afghan tribes to help fight the insurgents and possibly entering into some sort of negotiations with the Taliban.

The independent election commission chief, Azizullah Ludin, said 20 August was chosen for the poll after consulting with Afghan and international security forces. "They told us there will be new security forces here ... and they will guarantee security," Ludin said.

Karzai has not stated that he will run again but has strongly hinted at it. He has sought to distance himself from the international coalition by lambasting civilian casualties caused by foreign troops.

Among the possible rival candidates for the top job are Ashraf Ghani, the former finance minister, and Abdullah Abdullah, the ex-foreign minister. A coalition of Karzai's critics is likely to be required to be strong enough to oust him.

Obama has appointed Richard Holbrooke as special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, underscoring the importance he attaches to the two countries, which are home to the Taliban and the base for al-Qaida. Long-term US aims are unclear after the defence secretary, Robert Gates, this week ruled out nation-building as a goal.

"Afghanistan is the fourth or fifth poorest country in the world," Gates said in testimony before the US Senate. "If we set ourselves the objective of creating some sort of Central Asian Valhalla over there, we will lose, because nobody in the world has that kind of time, patience or money."