What Karzai is up against…
http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/28518-new-hope-afghanistan.html
June 20, 2009
Corruption Crusader Aims for Afghan Presidency
By ADAM B. ELLICK
KABUL, Afghanistan

RAMAZAN BASHARDOST’S election campaign seems better suited for a student government race than a drive for the presidency of Afghanistan. Each day, dozens of volunteers visit his headquarters, a dust-blown tent on a dirt road, eager to hear his anticorruption platform . . .
THE campaign runs on $20,000, mostly donations from diaspora Afghans. All contributors are listed on Mr. Bashardost’s Web site.
Critics cast him as more of a moralist than a leader with ideas of his own. Commentators refer to him as genuine but slightly insane, as evidenced by his rants that end far removed from where they began. As a result, his policy prescriptions are murky . . .. (emphasis added).

Unlike the one (who) when young did eagerly frequent
Doctor and saint, and heard great argument,
But evermore
Came out by the same door as in (he) went.
Omar Khayyam
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/o/omarkhayya153456.html

Moreover, Bashrdost’s murky policy prescriptions
Defy all who’ve attempted clarifying descriptions;
Just where in his rants he’s going
There’s absolutely no way of knowing
And those who want to know are having conniptions.

But here’s some advice before they yield to despair
And for defeat, in abject resignation, prepare:
Though his policy goals aren’t clear,
In lack of specificity there’s naught to fear,
For if he doesn’t know where he’s going, any road will get him there.

Still, it’s likely in the circumstances that Karzai will win;
Also that Mr. Bashrdost’s supporters will create a din
Not over the kind of race Karzai ran
But the widespread corruption in Afghanistan
And his failure to stamp out that form of venial sin.