Our Man in Kabul, III

Is Karzai trying to clean up his government? Or is there something else behind the scenes here.

In an apparent capitulation to international pressure, the government of President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday announced the removal of two top election officials who were implicated in widespread fraud in last summer's balloting for president.
The legal framework for coming parliamentary elections has been a key point of contention between Karzai and Western governments. Karzai has resisted demands for what diplomats called "root-and-branch" reform of Afghanistan's electoral system before the vote, which is set for September.

Word of the electoral shake-up came from Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omar, who told reporters in Kabul that Azizullah Lodin, director of the Independent Election Commission, had stepped down, together with Daoud Ali Najafi, the commission's chief electoral advisor.

Several foreign monitoring groups had accused Lodin and Najafi of abetting massive vote-rigging in August's presidential balloting.

After an initial vote count, a separate fraud- auditing body stripped Karzai of about one-third of the ballots cast for him, throwing the race to a runoff. That second round was averted, however, when the Afghan leader's main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out and Karzai was declared the winner.

Despite its name, the Independent Election Commission, the main body overseeing elections, is appointed by the president. During and after August's vote, Karzai's opponents accused Lodin of favoring the president, who had handpicked him.

It could be a legitimate firing as noted, or it could be some other retaliatory issue we don't yet know about.

By: Brant