Karzai speaks at a meeting in Kabul on October 26. Karzai's landslide victory was seen as good for Pakistan. Hamid Karzai's landslide victory in Afghanistan's first presidential elections augurs well for Pakistan's key foreign policy goal of having a friendly, stable neighbor on its sensitive western border, analysts say.
That Karzai is from the ethnic Pashtun group, which makes up 40 percent of Afghanistan's population and has a sizable parallel community in Pakistan, adds to the comfort in Islamabad over his win.
Analysts said that that factor was behind Pakistan's former backing of the hard-line Islamic Taliban regime that was made up of Pashtuns, originated in the madrassas (Islamic schools) of western Pakistan and rose to power in Afghanistan in 1996.
US-led forces backed by the Northern Alliance of Tajiks, Uzbeks, and mostly other non-Pashtuns overthrew the Taliban in 2001 following the 9/11 attacks on the United States.
After much US pressure, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf withdrew his nation's support of the Taliban, which the United States said had to be evicted from power for sheltering Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network.
Although Musharraf backed the United States, deep concerns remained in Islamabad over the Northern Alliance's power in Kabul, and whether that would foment widespread opposition from Pashtuns in both nations.
"Karzai's victory vindicates Pakistan's view that Pashtuns must have their due share [of power] for any stable dispensation in Afghanistan," political commentator Muhammad Afzal Niazi said.
Karzai won the October 9 elections with more than 55 percent of the vote to secure a simple majority and avoid a second-round run-off. Tajik strongman Yunus Qanooni came in second with just over 16 percent.
A senior Pakistani foreign ministry official, who did not want to be identified, emphasized that the "destinies of Pakistan and Afghanistan are intertwined."
He said Pakistan had played its role in stopping Taliban and foreign militants operating on its side of the two nations' border from disrupting the presidential polls, as they had said they would.
Pakistan also facilitated out-of-country voting by Afghan refugees. Of just over 8 million votes cast in the election, almost 600,000 were cast in Pakistan.
Musharraf said in an interview with Singapore's Straits Times last week that Karzai had personally conveyed his thanks to him for the help.
"He himself rang me after the elections thanking me for all the assistance," Musharraf told the newspaper.
Political analyst Riffat Hussein also said Karzai's electoral success would be welcomed in Pakistan.
"The Pashtun population in Pakistan should be happy with Karzai's election and Pakistan should be feeling reassured as he is widely perceived as well disposed toward the country," Hussein, who heads the strategic studies department at Islamabad's Quaid-e-Azam University, said.
Karzai's victory 'good for Pakistan'
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