Saturday's Vote a Milestone for Afghanistan
Gary Thomas
Voice of America
10/08/2004
Saturday will mark a milestone for Afghans when
they head for the polls and, for the first time, freely choose
who will lead their country. Sixteen candidates - including
incumbent interim President Hamid Karzai - are running for president.
Afghan Ambassador to the United States Said Tayeb Jawad said
Afghans will not be intimidated from exercising their newfound
freedom, despite threats of disruption by resurgent Taleban.
"The Afghans are very much determined to
show to Taleban and other extremists that the day of extremism
is gone in Afghanistan," said Ambassador Jawad. "We
do anticipate some security incidents. The terrorists, the Taleban,
are desperate. They will try to do their utmost to prevent the
Afghan people from participating in this process. But minor
security incidents, even a major one, hopefully, they will not
happen, but will not prevent Afghans from going to the polls."
For 30 years, Afghanistan has been wrenched apart,
first by Soviet invasion and occupation, then by civil war and
the oppressive rule of the Taleban. Cheryl Benard, a senior
policy analyst at RAND - a corporation that researches and analyzes
government policies - says those events took deep human, economic
and political tolls.
"So, it was a society in extreme disarray,
not just from the Taleban experience, but from the civil war
before that, the Soviet invasion before that, and the sort of
civil war and anarchy before that," said Cheryl Benard.
"So, you had sort of these layers of problems that you
were facing."
The Taleban were ousted in 2001 by opposition
Afghan forces, backed by U.S. military might. Afterward, Afghan
leaders hammered out a series of steps to be taken toward democracy.
With international help, Afghans chose an interim leader and
wrote a constitution.
Ambassador Jawad calls the progress made in the
past three years remarkable.
"It's incredible," he said. "Afghanistan
is now an example of a successful partnership of the international
community and the determination of a nation to put their life
together. And, Afghanistan is emerging as an example that will
affect the inspiration of people all over the globe, who are
suffering under tyranny and extremism. "
However, Afghanistan is a country still in the
learning mode about things like voting and elections. Even the
most rudimentary fundamentals, such as how to mark a ballot,
must be taught.
And security remains a continuing worry in these
elections. Afghanistan is a country awash in guns, wielded not
only by Taleban remnants, but by the private militias of regional
warlords, who hold the true power in the countryside. Ambassador
Jawad says the gun has to be taken out of Afghan politics.
"We cannot build a civil society in Afghanistan,
as long as the gun rules in Afghanistan," continued Said
Tayeb Jawad. "And it is very crucial to expedite the process
of disarmament after the elections."
U.S. forces are sparse. Ambassador Jawad says
the promises of additional international peacekeeping help,
especially from NATO, have been slow in their fulfillment.
"We expected better and a larger degree of
participation, in particular, the security assistance by our
friends in the international community, especially NATO,"
he said. "NATO [countries] have promised Afghanistan in
Istanbul that they will increase their troops from 6,500 to
9,000. It looks like they're reaching this number, but it's
just in the nick of the time. And, I hope that, in the next
phase of the election, which is the parliamentary elections,
the international community will be willing to help us a little
bit faster and in a more timely fashion."
But, at a recent congressional hearing, U.S. Deputy
Secretary of State Richard Armitage said security from newly
trained Afghan forces, along with current international troops,
will be sufficient for electoral security. Besides, he said,
not all the polling places need protection.
"Forty eight hundred, as the chairman, I
think indicated in his opening remarks, is a lot of polling
places to try to protect," said Richard Armitage. "But
they don't all have to be protected, because they're not all
in areas that are heavily infested or infected."
House International Relations Committee Chairman
Henry Hyde also voiced concern about the small number of international
election observers.
"It remains to be seen how fair and credible
they will be," he said. "Voter registration has achieved
some notable success, which I applaud. However, with only 100
to 200 observers to be spread out among 5,000 polling sites,
and with threats of extortion and intimidation being voiced
by local warlords and private militias, I remain concerned about
the monitoring of the elections."
What the future holds in store for Afghans is
unknown. But, on Saturday, they will at least have their first
chance to build that future.
