Afghan villagers leading donkeys carrying ballot boxes and other election materials to polling stations not accessible by road along a path in the Shotul district of Panjshir province yesterday.

AFP

Washington

Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani vowed yesterday to take immediate action to tackle corruption if elected, acknowledging that donors had grown disgruntled over misuse of aid.

On the eve of the runoff election, Ghani told a US audience that as president he would immediately form a small consortium of key donors and outline economic reforms within 30 days.

The World Bank economist-turned-politician, speaking to the Center for National Policy in Washington via Skype, called corruption a “national shame” for Afghanistan, which has ranked near the bottom on annual corruption perception lists of Transparency
International.

“We simply cannot persuade the US public in a time... of immense fiscal difficulty, from the level of community to the state to the federal level, that public money can be allocated to us without accountability and transparency,” Ghani said.

The US alone has provided some $100bn in non-military assistance to Afghanistan since launching the war to oust the Taliban regime in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks. US officials have repeatedly urged President Hamid Karzai to do more on corruption, an insistence that has soured the two countries’ relationship.

Ghani is facing former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who came first in the initial round. Both Ghani and Abdullah have pledged to sign an agreement, which Karzai has refused to do, to allow nearly 10,000 US troops to stay in Afghanistan after this year when President Barack Obama plans to end combat operations.

Ghani said he would work to build relations with Pakistan, which was the main supporter of the Taliban until September 11. Afghan and US officials have accused Pakistani intelligence elements of maintaining links with extremists.

Ghani said that Afghanistan and Pakistan should integrate their economies better to take advantage of the growth of Asia, including the 2.5bn-strong combined market of China and India.

“Afghanistan and Pakistan have a choice: Do we become Asian roundabouts or do we become cul-de-sacs?” he said.

Ghani said he would chart out a 10-year plan to develop closer ties with Pakistan on the model of how France and Germany reconciled after World War II.

In comments similar to those of Abdullah at a separate Washington event on Thursday, Ghani said that Afghanistan and Pakistan should see common cause against extremists as both countries face attacks.

Forces target Taliban threat on election eve: Afghan police and soldiers searched almost every car on the roads of Kabul and other cities yesterday in an attempt to thwart Taliban suicide attackers on the eve of presidential elections.

The insurgents have threatened to target polling stations when voters will choose between former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani.

The second-round vote today comes as US-led Nato troops withdraw after more than a decade of fighting the Taliban, who were ousted from power in 2001 for sheltering Al Qaeda militants behind the 9/11 attacks.

Afghan officials are desperate to repeat the success of the first-round vote in April, when the insurgents failed to launch a single high-profile attack as long lines of voters turned up across the country to cast their ballots.

“We hope our security measures will be even better than the last election,” General Sher Mohammad Karimi, the army’s chief of staff, told reporters in Kabul.

“We have very good planning and co-ordination with our security forces, and they are on the highest state of alert ... The enemy suffered a heavy blow last time, so they have vowed
to disrupt the run-off.”

Outgoing President Hamid Karzai has also ordered all security personnel to remain neutral in today’s election, as officials try to avoid the massive fraud that undermined the 2009 poll when he retained power.

Abdullah secured 45% of the first-round vote, with Ghani on 31.6%, according to the final results, which came after weeks of deliberation over fraud allegations.

They were the two leading candidates in an eight-man field, triggering the run-off election as neither reached the 50% threshold needed for outright victory.

General Mohammad Zahir Azimi, the ministry of defence spokesman, said about 400,000 soldiers, police and intelligence forces were involved in the election security plan.

Nations that have fought in Afghanistan and donated billions of dollars in aid since 2001 see a smooth transition of power as a key benchmark of success, despite continuing violence.

A suicide attack targeting Abdullah last week killed 12 people, though he was left unharmed.

Karzai, who is constitutionally barred from a third term, has ruled since the end of the austere Taliban era, when men were beaten for not having beards and women were forced to wear the all-enveloping burqa.

The Taliban in a statement warned Afghans to “remain far away from the polling stations ... lest you should be hurt or killed.”