Ahmed Wali Masoud, the brother of the late commander Ahmed Shah Masoud, recalls the U.S. role in selecting Hamid Karzai, the current president: “The Bonn conference had 13 votes. Hamid Karzai only got two, but the then US and the British Ambassador insisted that we elect him. We had little choice, so we went ahead with it.” Back then, in 2002, Masoud’s Northern Alliance was very strong, but they also decided to go with Hamid Karzai to try and bridge the divide between the Tajiks and the Pashtuns. The Americans and the British were the only ones that had the money to help them rebuild their country and help stop it from becoming an al-Qaeda training ground, so Hamid Karzai was chosen.

Yet that’s in the past. The future is what matters: Afghanistan’s upcoming election is going to determine the road this country is going to travel during the next few decades. Forty-four candidates have filed papers to become the all-powerful president of a nation that has been in turmoil for several decades now. (Many will drop out in favour of one candidate or the other.)

One of the frontrunners is Hamid Karzai, the incumbent, and the one who’s being attacked by critics like the woman in the shop for being “a U.S. puppet”. He is also accused of being corrupt, that his brother has since amassed huge wealth. He’s managed to displease the West, too: one of his vice-presidential candidates is Mohammed Qasim Fahim, and several Western officials have criticised the choice, accusing Fahim of severe war crimes. His strongest opponent Abdullah Abdullah makes fun of Karzai. “He calls himself the representative of 25 million Afghans, but he can’t find 25 people to guard him and needs American security personnel.”

... contd.