After President Hamid Karzai snubbed a series of measures put forward by Abdullah in a bid to avoid a repeat of the massive first-round fraud, Abdullah said he saw no point in standing in the second round, but stopped short of calling for a boycott. Election officials said the November 7 vote would go ahead with both names on the ballot but with Karzai the only candidate. "Based on election laws and based on the constitution there should be a second round. The constitution is clear," Daoud Ali Najafi, chief electoral officer of the government-appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC), told Reuters. But a spokesman for U.N. mission chief Kai Eide voiced doubt about the practicality of carrying on with the election. "It's difficult to see how there can be a run-off with only one candidate," said spokesman Aleem Siddique.
Election officials said the November 7 vote would go ahead with both names on the ballot but with Karzai the only candidate.
"Based on election laws and based on the constitution there should be a second round. The constitution is clear," Daoud Ali Najafi, chief electoral officer of the government-appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC), told Reuters.
But a spokesman for U.N. mission chief Kai Eide voiced doubt about the practicality of carrying on with the election. "It's difficult to see how there can be a run-off with only one candidate," said spokesman Aleem Siddique.
The newsmagazine Der Spiegel said in an early release of its edition to be published on Monday that a NATO investigation into the September airstrike that killed dozens of Afghan civilians showed the German commander who ordered it broke military procedure. The September 4 strike on two fuel trucks in the northeastern Kunduz province was the most deadly operation involving German troops since World War Two. The Afghan government said the airstrike killed 69 Taliban fighters and 30 civilians....The report said that German authorities have put pressure on NATO not to issue an outright condemnation of Colonel Georg Klein because it could lead to legal problems. This message was given to the NATO commander in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, during a visit to Berlin on October 15.
The newsmagazine Der Spiegel said in an early release of its edition to be published on Monday that a NATO investigation into the September airstrike that killed dozens of Afghan civilians showed the German commander who ordered it broke military procedure.
The September 4 strike on two fuel trucks in the northeastern Kunduz province was the most deadly operation involving German troops since World War Two. The Afghan government said the airstrike killed 69 Taliban fighters and 30 civilians.
...The report said that German authorities have put pressure on NATO not to issue an outright condemnation of Colonel Georg Klein because it could lead to legal problems. This message was given to the NATO commander in Europe, Admiral James Stavridis, during a visit to Berlin on October 15.
(FUBAR.) *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
