A short report on the televised debate between three prominent candidates of Afghanistan’s presidential elections:

the incumbent Head of the state Hamid Karzai, Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Dr. Ramazan Bashardost aired by the state-controlled television and Radio Liberty on Sunday, August 16, 2009

What follows is a short summary of the key points made by the candidates during the debate. Hamid Karzai had previously refused a number of invitations to participate in debates on private TV Stations describing as biased. For the first time, Karzai faced his chief rivals in this debate which was aired on the Radio and Television of Afghanistan (RTA). Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, another leading figure in the race refused to participate for unknown reasons.

The Key Points Made by the Candidates:

Security and Accountability for Past Crimes

Dr. Ramazan Bashardost: The biggest problem of Afghanistan is the presence of killers in the body of government and if we reduce the number of these murderers from the system security will be improved. In my government there will be no assassin related to any party, faction or ethnicity.

To bring security we must remove corruption. Someone told me that whenever we go to a public office they “not just eat our flesh but our bones too”. It is an important factor behind deterioration of security.

He continued with saying that “everyone says we are ready to negotiate with Taliban but they never think whether Taliban are ready to talk to them or not”.

“Taliban have no problem with foreigners but they fight with those whom they defeated once, and they are now in the government of Mr. Karzai. They drag us out of our houses for interrogation”.

When I wanted to go to Helmand and Urozgan provinces I asked ministry of defense for airplane but they didn’t provide me one. They said that our airplanes are busy bringing martyred from different places. It shows that the security situation is critical.

Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said that “I have not made deals and promises with any of the warlords to include them in my future government. I want people to support my government. I want to bring basic changes in the legislative system of the country and will react with the violators of law seriously. For example a child is raped and the accused is freed after some times. According to the Islamic Law the person who is accused can be freed only if the victims consent with his freedom.”

Dr. Rmazan Bashardost stated that “I do have a great deal of respect to Mujahideen. If there was not any Mujaheedin, today Bashardot’s son could have been named Gorbachov or Sakharov. I like Mujaheedin but I want to hold all those criminals who have killed innocent people accountable whether they are Tajik, Hazara, Pashtun or others. People will not favor any government that includes even only one traitor, whether that is communist, Mujaheed or Talib. Security is impossible without justice”.

Karzai said that “I believe the terms like “warlords”, “communists” and others are imposed on us by our enemies and others have propagated them in our society and amongst our people”.

Corruption

Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai responded that “according to the law, the president and his government members must declare their properties. But I say that candidates also record their properties.

Dr. Ramazan Bashardost answered that “I urge that candidates not only record their properties but identify their source as well. For example some people say that some one helped me with that amount of money, I say why they do not help Bashardost as well. Only warlords and narcotics traffickers are not responsible, however those who wear beautiful suits with a tie they are more powerful thieves because they know how to remove the evidences to avoid being caught tomorrow”.

Women

Dr. R. Bashardost answered that “we must remove the title of second gender from the forehead of women. We talk of women right and never act about it. Women should not eat the leftover of men. I was the only person who appointed a female as the Deputy Minister of Planning when I was Minister of Planning. She did belong to my ethnicity, my religion and my language or region. In the meantime Mr. Karzai instead of improving the condition of women reduced their number in cabinet from four to one”.

Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai: Firstly, the guards in prison for women should not be male and females should not be inspected and frisked by male authorities, as there has been great number of cases of rape in prisons.

National Unity

Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai replied that “national unity does exist among the people. All the people want justice. But problem erupted when ethnic dealers took the place of politicians and in the name of nation started their trade and bargain. We should have adopted a transparent system in appointing governmental employees so that national solidarity came into being on its own. The problem of national solidarity is with the lack of justice”.

Dr. Ramazan Bashardost replied that “national solidarity can be seen in our country from two angles: One kind is inviting a representative from every ethnicity to an extravagant eating table. The other approach is to highlight the problems of people and provide solutions to them, which is the real type of national unity. Pashtuns are not the problems; actually they are the victims.

Karzai: National Unity exists completely now. I agree with Bashardost that Pashtuns are not the problem but the victim.

Questions Directed at Individual Candidates

Question: Mr. Bashardost! It is said that you live in a tent, you are a poor man and you do not drink Coca Cola. Does it all suit a president? Isn’t it too much?

Dr. Ramazan Bashardost: About 30% of people in Panjsher eat barley bread and in Bamyan people still live in caves. It makes no difference whether I sit on the plastic made chair or golden chair. When I was in France during the time of crisis I stopped drinking Coca Cola and fruits. I do not live with words but action. Living in palaces makes you forget people. We must live like the Four Caliphs. Our prophet says that if some one lives satiated and his neighbor is hungry he is not Muslim.

Question: Mr. Ashraf Ghani! People say that you have a short temper and your health condition is not normal? You indulge in a lot of fights and there have been cases when you have slapped your close associates. Do you think you are a suitable person for the presidency with these conditions?

I have been suffering from illnesses since past two years and my cancer is now cured. My health condition is fine and I can work for ten hours now. I was serious with only those who were thieves and misappropriated the governmental authorities.

Question: Mr. Karzai! It is said that you enter into coalitions very frequently and change your strategy. Is it not a weakness?

Hamid Karzai! When I took power in the country it was ruined and state institutions were functional. I entered into coalition for the interest of Afghanistan. Whenever it is needed I will enter into coalitions once, twice or million times.