The new NATO summit was supposed to be a celebration of the 13-year-long Afghan War, with officials planning to invite the newly inaugurated president to underscore some modicum of stability in the country. It didn’t work out that way.
Rather, officials are left to try to sell their “mission accomplished” message without an Afghan president as a guest, because there still isn’t an Afghan president to invite.
Every election under the NATO occupation has been a complete disaster, but this summer’s presidential vote really took the cake, with the ballot stuffing in the runoff election giving way to months of audits, and eventually the withdrawal of Abdullah Abdullah, the presumed front-runner, when the election commission wouldn’t throw out enough ballots for his taste.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen insisted NATO had achieved all of its goals in the war, and others also tried to put on a brave face of the “stronger” Afghanistan the occupation had produced, but unable to resolve a single election, few are buying it.