No U.S. Interference in Afghan Elections ... Except James Carville and the U.S. Occupation

[On Monday], Secretary of State Hillary Clinton just released a statement on the Afghan elections, which will be held [today]. Key section:

"The United States of America remains impartial in this election. We do not support or oppose any particular candidate. Like the Afghan people we want to see credible, secure and inclusive elections that all will judge legitimate. We hope that, from top to bottom, every effort will be taken to make election day secure, to eliminate fraud, and to address any complaints fairly and quickly."

Hmm. Well, let’s see. How is it not just a wee bit of interference to have James Carville, one of the Clintons’ top consiglieri, acting as a campaign advisor to one of the leading candidates? Carville, who says he is working as a “private citizen” for candidate Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official, was an advisor to Hillary Clinton in the 2008 election and has deep ties to Obama’s current Afghanistan/Pakistan envoy Richard Holbrooke. Ghani and former Unocal executive turned U.S.-puppet, Hamid Karzai, would both be acceptable to Washington, but Carville’s involvement certainly raises some questions. Carville, according to NPR, "won't say whether he's being paid to advise Ghani."

Hamid Karzai's office has offered some fairly muted criticism of this arrangement. "Let's leave the decision to the Afghan people if it is better to have the advice of Afghans without the interference from the foreigners or to have foreigners advising us?" said Humayun Hamidzada, Karzai’s spokesperson.