Who are the opposition candidates in Afghanistan’s presidential election?

??I don’t know about you, but I’m totally stoked for Afghanistan’s Aug. 20 presidential election.??Every night, I’m glued to KNN (that’s Kabul News Network), where the Best Political Team On Afghan Television™ tells me all about the hopes and fears of regular Afghan voters: the soccer moms, Buzkashi dads, and the tea-sipping, ’93 Corolla-driving, electricity-having, snooty urban elites. Sometimes, for balance, I’ll switch over to Afghanistan’s conservative Ox News Network (motto: We report. You ululate.).??Forty candidates are vying to replace incumbent Hamid Karzai, who himself is seeking re-election. To win, a candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the votes. If no candidate crosses the 50 percent threshold, the two top vote-getters advance to a runoff election.??Among the job’s perks: Afghanistan’s president gets to appoint powerful Cabinet ministers and regional leaders, be commander-in-chief of Afghanistan’s military, reside in a castle complex in northeastern Kabul known by the pirate-y sounding name the Arg, and be regularly targeted for assassination by numerous ethnic and religious factions who do not accept your legitimacy.??Really, who wouldn’t want this job???Umpteen reports say Karzai is expected to win re-election. Many of those same reports say the man with the best chance of defeating him is Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. His motto: “At least 100 percent more Abdullah than any other candidate.” OK, not really.??But I’m not kidding when I say Abdullah is truly a man of vision. That’s not an endorsement. Abdullah is an ophthalmologist. He graduated from medical school in Kabul in 1983, but soon after was driven from the country by the fighting that accompanied the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan during the 1980s. ??After opening an eye clinic in neighboring Pakistan for fellow Afghan war refugees, Abdullah joined the Afghan resistance under the anti-Soviet leader Ahmad Shah Massoud. Massoud is legendary for his skill and daring against the Soviet occupation. After the Soviets were ousted and the Taliban took over, Massoud fought the Taliban as well. Dude wouldn’t back down. He was assassinated two days before the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaida operatives posing as foreign journalists. After the Taliban was overthrown, President Karzai declared Massoud an official hero of Afghanistan.??Abdullah’s association with Massoud is probably his biggest claim to fame in Afghanistan. Abdullah’s campaign pictures feature Massoud as prominently as they feature Abdullah. Abdullah also was Karzai’s foreign minister for five years, but now positions himself as an antidote to the disorganization and corruption that indisputably mars Karzai’s rule.??The doctor promises cleaner government – both individually and structurally. He plans to strip the presidency of the power to appoint regional and district leaders, and instead fill the posts with elected officials. Locally elected officials, Abdullah says, will be less prone to corruption than cronies from Kabul.??The Doc Double-A’s political rallies have been drawing big crowds, suggesting his message is resonating with the Afghan people. ??Karzai certainly seems to be taking notice. Britain’s Independent newspaper says Karzai is working out a deal with a third candidate, Ashraf Ghani, to try to thwart Abdullah’s surge. The paper says Karzai is offering Ghani an almost co-presidency in exchange for his support. Ghani and Karzai are from the Pashtun ethnic group. Karzai hopes co-opting Ghani will solidify the Pashtun vote around his candidacy. Abdullah’s mother is Pashtun, but he’s largely identified with his father’s ethnic group, Tajiks.??I’m neither Afghan nor secretly Kenyan and am therefore ineligible to either vote or run in this election. If I could vote, I’d strongly consider marking my ballot for Abdul Latif Pedram. My reason: I’m biased. Pedram is a poet and journalist. He likes Persian poetry. So do I. And I like journalism, too.??Superficial, perhaps, but no more so than liking someone because she’s a hockey mom or a Puerto Rican.??Pedram got just 1.4 percent of the vote in Afghanistan’s 2004 election. I think he’s gonna do better this time. He already has more than 1,400 Facebook friends. That may not seem like a lot, but when you consider most of Afghanistan is still way back in, like, the Friendster age, it’s kind of impressive.