[Extensive (and I mean extensive!) coverage at The HQT International Edition]
The context: War. Lots of it.
The election: Taking place on August 20. Lots of candidates. Even your mother is running. So are Hamid Karzai, Ashraf Ghani, Ramazan Bashardost, and Abdullah Abdullah. The Taliban will use violence to try and discourage people from voting. If no candidate gets 50%, the top two will tango in six weeks.
The polls: A few U.S.-based organizations gave their best guess.
The candidates:
Hamid Karzai: Is the president. Running on the achievements of his time in office. Everyone is upset that the war rages on, he tolerates corruption and the drug trade, and people don't have water, power, or jobs. Yet, he's still popular and the front runner. Go figure.
Abdullah Abdullah: Former foreign minister is the northern candidate. Believe it or not, he's against corruption. Half-Tajik, half-Pashtun, fought against the Soviets and the Taliban. Has been called Afghanistan's Obama, but without the socialist tyranny part.
Ashraf Ghani: Former finance minister has spent 24 years living in the West. Western educated, became a professor, worked at the World Bank, and has a policy prescription for everything you could imagine. Except the prevention of presidential wedgies, should he be elected. Is against corruption.
Ramazan Bashardost: Former planning minister and current Member of Parliament. Is against corruption, but, unlike the others, actually lives in a tent to protest it. Has been called Afghanistan's Gandhi, but without the Oscar Award winning movie.
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