Afghan election: more than electing a president
Wednesday, 19 August 2009
The second presidential election in the history of Afghanistan is scheduled to take place tomorrow (Thursday). As many as 41 candidates, two of them women, will be on the ballot. Among the 41 candidates, only three are serious contestants. They are the incumbent president, Hamid Karzai, former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah and former finance minister, Ashraf Ghani. Washington is known to have confidence in all three of them. That way, the election will not produce a government which will be radically different from the present one. The main question is: how credible will be the election? There is an apprehension that voters' turn-out may be too low because of law and order situation. Besides, BBC reported last Tuesday that it carried out an investigation which found evidence of fraud and corruption, for example, voting cards, costing $10 per card, are allegedly on sale.
Though not on the ballot, it is the Taliban on which is riveted all the attention. The Taliban has vowed to spoil the election, denounced it as a 'seductive US process' and asked the people not to vote. A communiqué released by the Taliban leadership last month said: "The holy warriors [Taliban fighters] have to defeat this evil project [election], carry out operations against enemy centres, prevent people from participating in elections, and block all major and minor roads before Election Day." The Taliban fighters have carried their anti-election campaign and activities even to places which are not known to be safe Taliban zones. For months now they have been distributing leaflets, known as 'night letters', threatening anyone who will vote or attempt to vote in the August 20 election. And they have escalated rocket attack, suicide bombing, attack on Nato and Afghan military installations, assassination of election officials and agents of candidates in the run-up to the election. Only three days before the election, last Tuesday at 1.00 am, a rocket hit the presidential palace in the capital, Kabul.
So, unlike the first presidential election in 2004 when the Taliban remained aloof from election-related matters and did nothing to obstruct the election, this election is more than electing a president. This election will decide or, at the least, indicate which way Afghanistan will go in the future. Will the country proceed, through a process of trial and error, towards democratisation or will the Taliban, with its retrogressive politics, be able to regain power? Will the election produce a government which will be more acceptable to the Afghan people and the world than is the present government? And will the new government have the mettle to effectively deal with the problem of foreign occupation of the country?
The Afghan election will also be a test for US President Barack Obama. He maintains that the Afghan war is 'a war of necessity' and has extended the war theatre into Pakistan -- the war is now known by the acronym, Af-Pak war. As he has escalated the war, his administration is also interested in finding out an honourable exit from the Afghan imbroglio. The process will become easy if the US finds a government in Kabul which will be better placed than the present one to deal with the Taliban, militarily as well as politically. Otherwise, the US and its allies will be condemned to fight more battles and to take more casualties in Afghanistan and the suffering of the occupied Afghan people will multiply. Hence, Obama has called the upcoming election "the most important event this year in Afghanistan."
Though not on the ballot, it is the Taliban on which is riveted all the attention. The Taliban has vowed to spoil the election, denounced it as a 'seductive US process' and asked the people not to vote. A communiqué released by the Taliban leadership last month said: "The holy warriors [Taliban fighters] have to defeat this evil project [election], carry out operations against enemy centres, prevent people from participating in elections, and block all major and minor roads before Election Day." The Taliban fighters have carried their anti-election campaign and activities even to places which are not known to be safe Taliban zones. For months now they have been distributing leaflets, known as 'night letters', threatening anyone who will vote or attempt to vote in the August 20 election. And they have escalated rocket attack, suicide bombing, attack on Nato and Afghan military installations, assassination of election officials and agents of candidates in the run-up to the election. Only three days before the election, last Tuesday at 1.00 am, a rocket hit the presidential palace in the capital, Kabul.
So, unlike the first presidential election in 2004 when the Taliban remained aloof from election-related matters and did nothing to obstruct the election, this election is more than electing a president. This election will decide or, at the least, indicate which way Afghanistan will go in the future. Will the country proceed, through a process of trial and error, towards democratisation or will the Taliban, with its retrogressive politics, be able to regain power? Will the election produce a government which will be more acceptable to the Afghan people and the world than is the present government? And will the new government have the mettle to effectively deal with the problem of foreign occupation of the country?
The Afghan election will also be a test for US President Barack Obama. He maintains that the Afghan war is 'a war of necessity' and has extended the war theatre into Pakistan -- the war is now known by the acronym, Af-Pak war. As he has escalated the war, his administration is also interested in finding out an honourable exit from the Afghan imbroglio. The process will become easy if the US finds a government in Kabul which will be better placed than the present one to deal with the Taliban, militarily as well as politically. Otherwise, the US and its allies will be condemned to fight more battles and to take more casualties in Afghanistan and the suffering of the occupied Afghan people will multiply. Hence, Obama has called the upcoming election "the most important event this year in Afghanistan."