A former UN envoy appealed on Monday for action to stop Afgha-nistan’s parliamentary elections later this year, charging that President Hamid Karzai could trigger civil war through vote-rigging.
Peter Galbraith — a vocal critic of Mr Karzai, whom he described as a “weirdo” — also said the United States and its allies should consider sharply reducing troop levels as it lacked a credible partner in Kabul. The United Nations fired Galbraith in 2009 as number two in its Afghan mission after he accused Mr Karzai’s forces of ballot-stuffing in presidential elections, although a UN watchdog later released similar findings. Galbraith warned of a “looming train wreck” in September’s elections for Parliament, which has provided an outlet for Mr Karzai’s opponents and members of ethnic groups other than the Afghan President’s Pashtuns.
“As bad as it is, the situation in Afghanistan is going to get immeasurably worse in September unless something is done to stop the parliamentary elections,” Galbraith told a forum in Washington.
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Shahzad planned to target 4 other local landmarks
New York, May 18: Failed Times Square bomber Fai-sal Shahzad reportedly considered targeting four other local landmarks, according to media reports. Shahzad told interrogators he wanted to hit the city’s Rockefeller Plaza, Grand Central Terminal, the World Financial Centre and the Connecticut headquarters of defence contractor Sikorsky if his Times Square attack was successful, the New York Post reported. His plans were foiled May 1, when a vendor saw smoke coming from Shahzad’s SUV and alerted the police. —IANS