[ Afghan Elections 2004-2005 ]

In a 12 October interview with U.S.-funded Alhurra television, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said that Afghanistan's presidential election illustrates Iraq's potential to follow suit, the State Department spokesman's office said in a press release (http://www.state.gov). "I believe the people of Iraq want the same thing the people of Afghanistan and people in so many nations want: the opportunities to step forward and decide who will be their future leaders and to decide that by a vote," the statement quoted Powell as saying. U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said while visiting Macedonia on 11 October: "The great sweep of human history is for freedom.... We see that in this region [the Balkans], we have seen it in Afghanistan, and let there be no doubt we are going to see it in Iraq," "The Washington Post" reported on 12 October. Iraqi elections are scheduled for January. (Amin Tarzi)