Karzai pulling strings in parliament crisis

KABUL: A row over alleged vote fraud has dragged Afghanistan back into a political crisis which critics blame on President Hamid Karzai, weeks before foreign troops start pulling out after ten years of war.

The dispute has paralysed parliament and raises fresh questions about Karzai's leadership, with one expert describing it as a "game" by the president designed to neuter opposition.

It comes as Karzai falls under more scrutiny than ever, with 10,000 United States troops leaving Afghanistan this year and Afghan forces and officials taking increasing responsibility for their own country from July.

Some lawmakers are threatening huge protests after a Karzai-backed special tribunal last week moved to throw out 62 lawmakers, a quarter of the 249-seat lower house Wolesi Jirga, over alleged ballot-rigging in polls last September.

"Preparations are already underway -- we'll organise massive demonstrations," said Mohammad Tahir Zuhair from the northern province of Samangan, who will lose his seat if the tribunal's ruling is implemented.

"From four directions of Kabul, we will march on the gates of the presidential palace and will stay there until Karzai gives up on this."

The special tribunal's decision has already prompted members of parliament to pass a vote of no confidence Saturday in the country's top judge, the attorney general and four other members of the supreme court.

Highlighting the tensions, attorney general Mohammad Ishaq Alako, a long-time Karzai ally, dismissed the parliament's decisions as "illegal" and vowed to enforce the court's verdict -- using force if necesary.

Lawmakers have also appealed to the United Nations for assistance, prompting Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omer to say that any foreign "interference" in the situation "will be considered a violation of national sovereignty."

The issue of the special tribunal has been hanging over Afghan politics for months.

Despite elections being held last September, parliament was only inaugurated in January after a lengthy stand-off between Karzai and his opponents was resolved by a fragile truce.

Now that the special tribunal has delivered its verdict, the whole issue has again flared up at a crucial point.

Western officials in Kabul repeatedly stress that, in order for the switch from foreign to Afghan security control and governance to work amid a deadly insurgency, Afghan leaders have to step up and take more responsibility.

Experts, though, accuse Karzai of playing politics with the parliament, even though a number of his allies could lose their seats.

"It's a Karzai game," said Kabul-based analyst Haroun Mir. "Karzai had problems with the previous parliament which was relatively powerful. It had become a headache for him and he didn't want that to happen again."

Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network said the stand-off had thrown parliament's standing into question, to the president's advantage.

"The legitimacy of this second post-Taliban parliament of the 'new democratic' Afghanistan has been destroyed for good," he wrote this week.

"The winner -- again -- is Karzai. The losers are those who want a functioning Afghanistan, governed not ruled."

The row also threatens to hold up crucial decisions by parliament to tackle the Kabul Bank scandal, which has seen hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign aid withheld this year.

The lender was taken over last year by Afghanistan's central bank after claims that executives had granted themselves off-the-book loans worth a reported $900 million, partly used to buy luxury properties in Dubai.

But in the view of the losing candidates who the special tribunal's ruling would benefit if implemented, the court is only making sure that the right outcome is reached.

Zuhair, a sociologist, could lose his seat to Ahmad Khan Samangani, a powerful warlord and ex-militia commander, if the tribunal has its way.

Samangani's 20,000 votes were initially deemed fraudulent by the election authorities but now the court has ruled they should be given back.

"Justice is done now," Samangani, who has led massive protests against the cancellation of his votes, told AFP. "My votes were clean and transparent. I'm happy that justice was done for me."

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011