Karzai’s Deputy Escapes as Election Convoy Hits Mine

KABUL, Afghanistan – The final day of campaigning in Afghanistan’s first presidential election was marred yesterday by an assassination attempt on the running mate of President Karzai that killed two and injured five people.Ahmad Zia Massoud, the vice-president, escaped unharmed as a remote controlled mine hit the second car in his convoy just after his vehicle passed by on the way to a rally, said the deputy provincial governor in Faizabad, the capital of Badakshan province.The attack typified the violence, mostly committed by remnants of the terrorist Taliban regime, which has beset but failed to stop an election. The poll is seen as a vital test of Afghanistan’s ability to lead a peaceful future after decades of war.Dozens of civilians, Afghan and foreign soldiers, police, terrorists, and others have been killed across the country during the 30-day campaign. Mr. Karzai escaped an attempt on his life when a rocket was fired at his helicopter.Mr. Massoud is the brother of Ahmad Shah Massoud, a hero of the fight against the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and of the later struggle against the Taliban regime.Thousands of American, European, and Afghan troops have been deployed to protect candidates. Fears of violence have prevented Mr. Karzai from holding more than a handful of rallies but yesterday he made his final appearance at Kabul’s football stadium, once used by the Taliban regime as a place of execution for dissenters.Mr. Karzai told 6,000 cheering supporters: “Your vote will elect a president for the next five years, but it will do much more than that. By voting you are laying the first bricks in a wall of democracy that will last for decades and centuries in our country.”As he spoke, hundreds of men danced to patriotic anthems and shouted: “The future of Afghanistan lies in Karzai’s embrace. “Thousands of others cried: “Long live Karzai! Karzai is the future!”Posters showing him holding children, or pointing to a bright future are pasted all over the stadium. He is considered the only leader with a national vision and is expected to beat 17 rivals on Saturday when 10.5 million Afghans vote.The day before, Mr. Karzai held a rally in Ghazni, 100 miles south west of Kabul. The president, who has survived three assassination attempts, flew in escorted by six American helicopters and two jet fighters while thousands of American and Afghan troops guarded the rally site.“I wish I could have got out more on the campaign trial, this reception is incredible and I am really enjoying myself,” he said as he hugged disabled men and kissed children. Mr. Karzai has become the country’s best-known politician. But on September 11, 2001, he was an unknown minor Pathan tribal leader who only a year before had unsuccessfully tried to convince American politicians that the Taliban posed a serious threat to the West.During the American-led campaign in late 2001 he was one of the two Pathan commanders who went to fight the Taliban.His resistance against the terrorist regime earned him the respect of other anti-Taliban groups, which elected him at the Bonn conference in December 2001 to lead the country’s first postwar government.But he also came to power on the back of the much more powerful Northern Alliance faction, which had helped to defeat the Taliban with the support of the Americans.Mr. Karzai draws his support from moderate Afghans, most of the Pathans, the reformists, the educated elites, and royalists who want to see the end of the ethnic-based politics of the Northern Alliance and dilute the ethnic rivalries that have destroyed the country for three decades.Until recently he has been criticized for promoting the military commanders who have refused to give up their private armies, and forming coalitions with government figures heavily involved in the narcotics trade.But a senior government official said immediately after the election that Mr. Karzai would expose drug smugglers who held senior posts in the government.A Cabinet minister said between now and the Parliament elections expected to be held next spring there would be a huge step towards disarmament of the 60,000-strong private rebel groups.

Karzai’s Deputy Escapes as Election Convoy Hits Mine

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