While world leaders gather for the opening of the 64th UN General Assembly, there are some notable absentees. Hugo Chavez and Hamid Karzai both chose not to attend the event.
Vanda Felbab-Brown of the Brookings Institute said that by avoiding the session, the Afghani president probably wants to escape pressure from the international community to investigate vote fraud during recent presidential elections in which he is leading.
Hugo Chavez, in turn, may be concerned that president Barack Obama might steal his thunder, Felbab – Brown added.