POTS AND KETTLES?

It`s reported that Gordon Brown telephoned Hamid Karzai yesterday to congratulate him on his election as President of Afghanistan. Hang on. If I`ve got this right, the first `election` was dogged by widespread fraud to such as extent that a second election would have been held but for the withdrawal of Karzai`s only rival, Abdullah Abdullah. So no second election then but never mind, Karzai has been installed as President nonetheless.

Brown is also reported to have urged Karzai to act swiftly to "establish the legitimacy of his Presidency in the eyes of the Afghan people." Hang on again. If I`ve got this one right as well, didn`t Brown shoehorn himself into the Premiership of this country and deny the voters the chance to "establish the legitimacy" of his Premiership by refusing to hold a General Election?

Yesterday, Staff Sergeant Olaf Schmid of the Royal Logistic Corps was killed whilst defusing a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, bringing the total of British personnel lost in that conflict to 224 - even more than in the illegal Iraq campaign. And I`m beginning to wonder how much longer we can go on losing precious lives in a conflict that may have no solution in a country where corruption is rife, despite which we are ploughing £140million a year into a dubious attempt to give a foothold to `democracy` - a concept which may not even be understood let alone welcomed in that troubled land. And I`m intrigued as to how the notion of installing even a faltering `democracy` can have any legitimacy when imposed by unelected `leaders` via an election procedure which of itself has brought democracy into disrepute.