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FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2009
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Prez Hopefuls Offer Change Afghanistan Can Believe In

Candidates mimic Obama campaign

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(Newser) – Which presidential candidate has a lock on the words "hope" and "change"? These days, it's Afghan challenger Abdullah Abdullah, whose Obamaesque website—complete with scrolling news feeds, photo and video galleries, and social networking links—exhorts voters to "join the campaign to change Afghanistan." As the Hill reports, he's just one of several candidates in next week's vote to use last year's US race as an online template.

Ashraf Ghani, another main challenger, tells voters to "hope for change" on his own website, which links to a slick, English-language YouTube channel. Ghani, Abdullah, and Hamid Karzai himself all have Facebook pages alongside their websites, and several candidates have unofficial pages as well. While Internet use is climbing in Afghanistan, the literacy rate is only 28% and most of the country's 33 million have no access at all.

Supporters of Abdullah Abdullah cheers as they listen his speech during his election campaign rally in Jaghuri district in Ghazi province, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009.
Supporters of Abdullah Abdullah cheers as they listen his speech during his election campaign rally in Jaghuri district in Ghazi province, Afghanistan, Tuesday, Aug 11, 2009.   (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, has emerged as Hamid Karzai's top challenger with a campaign focusing on government mismanagement, corruption and rising violence.
Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, has emerged as Hamid Karzai's top challenger with a campaign focusing on government mismanagement, corruption and rising violence.   (AP Photo/Farzana Wahidy)
Ashraf Ghani speaks before his supporters during his election campaign in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 7, 2009. Afghans will head to the polls on Aug. 20 to elect the new president.
Ashraf Ghani speaks before his supporters during his election campaign in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 7, 2009. Afghans will head to the polls on Aug. 20 to elect the new president.   (AP Photo/Farzana Wahidy)
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ruserious
Aug 12, 09 9:09 AM CDT
I listened to an NPR segment interviewing supporters of Abdullah Abdullah, and there were a large portion of women in his crowd. Women seemed to take his "change" message to heart and thought that he could provide them with a safer community. It was interesting, since women didn't even have the right to attend school 8 years ago. How far they've come. Reply
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RogerMohajir
Aug 12, 09 9:26 AM CDT
Afghan presidential candidates on YouTube would be funny if it wasn't so sad. Without literacy, people can not participate in elections in any meaningful way. Does no one in our government see the irony in "imposing democracy" in Afghanistan? I know our involvement there has little (if anything) to do with what might benefit Afghans, but wouldn't our objectives also be better met by simply installing the best leadership we can identify and then promoting literacy, so that in a decade Afghans would have the tools to participate in democracy -- if they choose to do so? Obviously, we would be better able to tackle corruption and a host of other problems as well, if we decided who led the local and national governments and dismissed them when they failed. Isn't that how an occupying power is supposed to act? Isn't it our responsibility as occupiers to provide a functional government until conditions allow for the occupied to run things themselves (something that usually coincides with the occupier's departure)? Reply
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