Afghan Elections - voting Day 20th August

an Afghan election poster showing the incumbant President Moh. Karzai

An Afghan  friend of mine living in Kabul wrote a couple of emails at the beginning of August

"We are here in dustful, Kabul with plenty of war news. No peace talks, just confusion (anomia), every second hour at least, you hear about an incidence, murder, killing, what not and what not. Sometimes they say about peace, next time they say war. For talks very difficult conditions from both sides. One says, foreign troops should withdraw and then we will sit to talks, another says the they should split with them first and then we can talk, so much confusion. Once upon a time, a son told his mother, "I am going to take you to the market and sell you". The mother cried and said, " But I am your mother, why do you sell me?" Then, son said, "Ok, don't worry, I will put a price on you, which nobody will be able to afford buying you." This is the situation. The price of peace is so expensive, which even the superpowers can not afford to buy it"

'At present, the names of 38 candidates are still in the list. Nine of them are rather active, that is they hold and participate in meetings, interviews and roundtables, travel to provinces and explain their programs and strategies. The activities of the remaining candidates are not so visible and are less active. There are claims that a number of the candidates have received foreign aid and spend money in abundance. 

For the protection of Ballot Boxes, some people estimates up to 300,000 police and security forces would be required to maintain security. The government says that currently around 160 districts have no reliable security and 10 districts are completely out of control. In Kabul too, people do not seem very much interested.

Some politicians say that the people as well as the International community should play a role in this election. After the Bonn Conference, the Bush administration has perpetrated so many mistakes. The special envoy of Obama is also working on the wrong foundation and it is hoped that he will soon understand that if the people want election or not. They should have done a survey before to find out about the people's interest. People say election is the interest of foreigners but the people need security and economic prosperity and that they spend $260 million on this election is mere waste of money. So the interests and demands of people contradict with those of the foreigners. On the one hand, the Taliban has also forewarned that they will cut the fingers of those who cast vote in the box as election is against Islam. 

While on the other the international community wants something to be done and transparent election are not possible even in the USA. But lack of security can not justify that Taliban are so strong, lack of attention of security forces is also a challenge….'

I suppose at the end of the day its all about SECURITY ... The people of Afghanistan need a stable peace. Maybe this is the opportuniy to find one.  But it swill take years to build   Tomorrow we'll see which way the camels sits ..... 

AFGHANISTAN: ELECTION SECURITY MAP  from BBC