Presidential election: Daudzai emerges as strong candidate to replace Karzai

Likely presidential candidate currently serving as Afghan ambassador to Pakistan.

ISLAMABAD:

Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Omer Daudzai has emerged as a strong candidate to replace President Hamid Karzai in next year’s presidential election in Afghanistan.

Daudzai was cautious in his remarks to The Express Tribune when asked about his chances in next year’s polls. He, however, indicated that he may stand in the election but would only make a formal announcement after further consultations. It was unclear who he would hold the consultations with.

Daudzai, 57, a close confidant of Karzai, clarified his remarks published in a British newspaper that he was “preparing to launch his campaign for the presidential elections”. He said he had not yet made a final decision in that regard.

“I cannot say that I am a candidate. And I cannot say that I am not a candidate,” the Afghan ambassador said in Islamabad. “I need to further think and consult and then I will make a decision,” he added.

According to sources in Afghanistan, Daudzai’s name has been doing the rounds for some time among the inner circles of President Karzai, who cannot run for a third time in the upcoming elections under the country’s constitution.



Sources also refuted Afghan media reports which suggested that President Karzai may support his brother if he stands for the post.

“President Karzai will never want to leave a legacy that his family member replaces him,” said an Afghan official privy to ongoing consultations in Kabul over Karzai’s replacement.

Those close to the president believe that a man with some ‘Islamic credentials’ should replace him to win the support of people in Afghanistan, as well as the Islamic world.

Speculation over Daudzai’s possible candidature emerged when he accompanied President Karzai’s in the Pakistan-Afghanistan-UK summit in London last month. Afghan analysts, however, say Karzai has not made up his mind whether he intends to throw his weight behind any particular candidate and that other people from Karzai’s camp are also aspirants for top post.

Waheed Mujda, an Afghan political analyst and writer, said on Thursday that instability in Pashtoon-majority areas could affect the vote bank of the Karzai-backed candidate.

“However, Karzai’s candidate could win people’s support if uninterrupted elections are held in all Pashtoon areas and if Karzai rakes advantage of the rift in the ranks of his political rivals, the Northern Alliance,” Mujda, also a former Afghan foreign ministry official, told The Express Tribune from Kabul.

Mujda said the Northern Alliance is currently facing internal differences, and could lose out if it fails to reach consensus on a candidate.

He was of the opinion that Karzai’s recent statements against foreign forces over civilian deaths and the handover of the US-controlled Bagram Prison to Afghan authorities could benefit his candidate in Pashtoon areas.

Daudzai’s profile

Daudzai, an ethnic Pashtoon, has served as the chief of staff in President Karzai’s government from 2003 to 2005 and then in 2007. He had been associated to the Hezbi-e-Islami Party of former prime minister Engineer Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. He also served as Afghan ambassador to Iran from 2005 till 2007.

He was appointed ambassador to Pakistan in April, 2011; the post in Islamabad is usually offered to close aides of rulers in Afghanistan.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 22^nd, 2013.