Afghanistan’s Upcoming Election | WBUR and NPR

TODAY IS MONDAY, MARCH 22, 2010

The following is a "closing segment" for the show which aired Wednesday, October 6, 2004 at 10:00 AM EDT.

Wednesday, October 6, 2004 at 10:00 AM EDT

Afghanistan’s Upcoming Election

This Saturday, 10.5 million Afghanis will head to the polls for the country’s first historic presidential elections. Campaigning ended today with a bomb attack on the running mate of interim president Hamid Karzai, from which the vice presidential candidate narrowly escaped. Two of the 18 declared candidates today said they would withdraw from the race that Karzai is favored to win.

But the outcome of Saturday’s elections is not guaranteed, and there is a lot at stake for Afghanistan and the Bush administration.

Hear a discussion of the politics, the process, and the turmoil in the run-up to the historic elections in Afghanistan.

Guests:

David Bosco, staff editor, Foreign Policy Magazine, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

David Edwards, professor of anthroplogy at Williams College and director of the Afghanistan Media Project

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