Hamid Karzai Set to Ink Secret Deal to Stay in Power(With Help Form Holbrooke)

[tekisui]

Source: Times of India

LONDON: As Hamid Karzai prepares for his toughest electoral battle, the Afghan president is in the final stages of inking a secret deal with one of his rivals to ensure a decisive victory in the presidential poll
on August 20, a news report said on Friday.

(snip)

"The whole country is armed. Everybody has weapons. You have to keep everyone happy," an Afghan analyst said. Abdullah's supporters, who are largely Tajik, have threatened to hold protest demonstrations of Iranian-style, but "with Kalashnikovs", should the Karzai win a second term. They insist the president could win only fraudulently.

Although Karzai, a Pashtun, is expected to stay ahead, Ashraf Ghani, the third candidate could split the Pashtun vote and deprive the president of the 51 per cent share needed for an outright victory.

Now Afghan officials said the president had offered Ghani a job as chief executive - a new post described as similar to prime minister, to knock Abdullah out of the race.

(snip)

According to the report, Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, is understood to have discussed the proposal with Ghani late last month.

"It makes sense," a policy analyst with close links to the US administration said. "Holbrooke likes Ghani, and he has come round to the fact that Karzai will probably win."

more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4869180.cms

[Buzz Clik]

1. Why does he think it's a secret?