The presidential election of 2009 – in which Hamid Karzai gained a second term – was a highly contentious affair, and neither the Afghan political system nor the international community came through it with flying colors. Together with the battle over the Taliban’s future role in the country, the struggle for power in 2014 could reanimate divisions that take the country back to the brink of a wider civil war, with the liberal technocrats of Kabul crushed between a resurgent Northern Alliance and a wider “Pashtun Pact.”
在2009年的总统选举中，卡尔扎伊成功连任。这次选举充满了争议，不管是阿富汗政治制度还是国际社会，都没有将它视为成功。2014年的总统之争与塔利班的未来角色之争一起，可能会让分裂局面死灰复燃，将阿富汗推向内战的边缘，喀布尔的技术官僚将受到复起的北方联盟和更广的“普什图公约”两面挤压。