Democracy on the March in Afghanistan, Too

If you thought that our attempts at exporting democracy were a shambles only in Iraq, think again. Via AMERICAblog (are you reading them yet?) we find that the US is attempting to force candidates other than Hamid Karzai out of the race.

That's real democracy, no? From the LA Times:

Mohammed Mohaqiq says he was getting ready to make his run for the Afghan presidency when U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad dropped by his campaign office and proposed a deal.

Mohaqiq was still determined to run for president — though, he said, the U.S. ambassador wouldn't give up trying to elbow him out of the race.
"He left, and then called my most loyal men, and the most educated people in my party or campaign, to the presidential palace and told them to make me — or request me — to resign the nomination. And he told my men to ask me what I need in return."