Richard Engel, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent
KABUL – When I saw the headlines today that both President Hamid Karzai and his rival Abdullah Abdullah are claiming victory in the Afghanistan election, I was somewhat surprised. I thought that this could be an issue of major concern because you don’t want to have a situation here like we had in Iran where there is a disputed election and both sides are claiming victory as the results are still coming in.
So I wanted to make sure what exactly the candidates were saying.
I went over to Abdullah’s house – he is the former foreign minister and main challenger in the race against the incumbent Karzai.
We spoke in English, and he speaks very good English, but I think some of the situation here has to do with language.
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| VIDEO: Afghanistan presidential election results trickle in |
I asked him, “Do you think you’ve won the election?”
And he said, “Yes.”
I asked him, “Are you claiming victory?”
He said, “No, the results are still coming in.”
So I said, “Well then, what do you mean exactly? You think you’ve won, but the results are still coming in?”
He said, “Yes, exactly.
“But you’re not claiming victory?” I asked.
He said, “No.”
So there is a big, big difference. I asked him to explain to me what he thinks the situation is now.
Abdullah said, “Indications are now that I’m in the lead and that I have won the elections outright and there will be no need for a run-off; but the final results are not in. But those are the indications we have at this point.”
So, I called Karzai’s people because he is also quoted as saying he’s won and it’s over.
But his people said, “No, no, no. We are confident that we’ve won, but the results aren’t all in yet. But we think it will go our way.”
So basically, you have both sides saying, “We think we’ve won” – but not quite claiming victory.
Now it’s a fine line. Could this escalate and tomorrow both sides harden their positions?
Yes, that could happen. So we are headed down a dangerous path here. But both sides at this stage are trying to not delegitimize the process and not put themselves onto a confrontational path.
Both sides are saying they’re confident and their own internal polling and fact-finding shows that they have won, but it’s not settled yet. They think they will have a much clearer idea by the end of the weekend.
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