Ex-UN envoy Galbraith denies Afghan poll fraud

WASHINGTON - A former UN envoy has dismissed Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s claims that foreign observers were responsible for electoral fraud last year.

Karzai had accused Galbraith and EU mission head Phillippe Morillon of being involved in a plot to put a puppet government in power.

Galbraith, the then deputy head of the UN mission in Afghanistan, said Karzai’s charge was absurd.

“At first, I thought it was an April Fool’s joke, but I realized I don’t have that kind of warm, personal relationship with President Karzai that he would do that,” he said.

He told the BBC the suggestion that the UN had stolen votes served as a sharp reminder of the fraud that dogged the election.

Karzai was not declared the clear winner in the first round of the 2009 presidential vote, but emerged as victor after the challenger in the second round stood down, following several months of argument. (ANI)