Monday, October 11, 2004
Blogging from Afghanistan
It's been a few days since the historic election in Afghanistan, an enormous moment for the Afghan people and a huge victory for America and the fight against Islamic extremism.
The BBC has had good coverage of what the American media doesn't want you to see -- it's worth reading through their election blog:
In Kabul, at the end of the day, emotional women told the BBC that it had been the most memorable day in their lives. Some of them were in tears. One old woman said she'd woken up early in the morning and then woke up her sisters saying: "We have to get out to vote. The future of Afghanistan is at stake....And let's give credit where credit is due. This is also a great victory for the Bush administration. Even som e of those who are anti-Bush, while of course finding a few things to criticize, can recognize the truth:
There's a cheerful, holiday mood in Mazar - schools and shops are closed and children are out flying kites....
There was a tremendous buzz of excitement at the polling stations. I genuinely got the feeling that this was the people's opportunity and that's why in Kandahar the problem with the ink is being laughed out of town....
People are now waiting to hear from the authorities managing the election. But they've been very keen to get in and vote, and defy the threats from the Taleban to those participating in the electoral process....
And women voters have been present too. For people here the election has presented a development following years of conflict. This is something new and it's a change which has not been lost on the Afghan electorate here in the south....
An Afghan cleric Maulvi Sultan Mohammad told the BBC he would only vote when the American forces are gone from his country: "This is not only my decision, but I think the decision of all Muslims of Afghanistan." [Ed. - His count is only off by about 10,000,000!]
Outside, the earlier mood of scepticism has been replaced with a sunnier, more festive spirit. A group of Qabaili tribals - largely Pashtun - have taken out an impromptu victory celebration at the Great Masood Way - a major intersection in memory of the slain Northern Alliance leader. Despite being weeks away from a result, they are confident that the man they support - President Hamid Karzai - has already won. Singing and dancing they march through the streets as a group of Isaf soldiers look on, amused. At least some Afghans have decided to wholeheartedly embrace the democratic spirit....
Large crowds gathered at Kandahar's polling stations clearly excited at the prospect of voting. One old man I spoke to said he had been waiting since his youth to see such scenes. Another said the vote represented a new era in Afghanistan's history and that the situation in the country could only get better...
Afghans in Kandahar celebrate the presidential elections
On Afghanistan, the Bush administration's record is mixed.
It does deserve credit for yesterday's presidential election.
If the leading candidate, President Hamid Karzai, wins the vote, he will become the first elected Afghan leader ever.
It is easy to mock, as I did recently, that 10.5 million Afghans registered when only 9 million were said to be eligible. The inflation was attributed to enthusiasm, or fraud, or merely a desire to multiply ration benefits.
But the fact that an election was held at all, despite the violence perpetrated by a resurging Taliban, was historic.
Many women participated enthusiastically. That others were not allowed by their men to break traditional taboos is not Bush's fault.
Afghanistan is emerging from the living hell it has been for three decades — from Communist rule to the Soviet occupation, to the mayhem of the anti-Soviet mujahideen fighters, to the tyranny of the Taliban and Al Qaeda.
Unlike in Iraq, where the Bush administration did almost everything wrong, it did do certain things right in Afghanistan.
Within weeks of ousting the Taliban, it had the United Nations mount an international conference in Germany to create a framework of an Afghan government.
It got the first international peacekeepers on the ground within a month.
It helped organize a loya jirga grand assembly of tribes to anoint Karzai as leader, even if he was an American appointee.
It helped organize another such gathering to approve a constitution by January this year.
It has kept its 18,000 troops mostly away from the population centres and focused on finding Osama bin Laden, rather than pacifying Afghans or keeping the peace — a task American soldiers seem incapable of doing, due to cultural ignorance or proclivity to military overkill.
I'm still waiting to hear comments from the Kerry campaign. Though frankly I find it disgraceful that they have not been falling all over themselves to praise this great day for Afghanistan, for America and for the world.
Update
While not specifically commenting about Afghanistan, I believe this statement captures the essence of Kerry:
In this administration, the approach is that democracy is the automatic, easily embraced alternative to every ill in the region,' he told me. Kerry disagreed. 'You can't impose it on people,' he said. 'You have to bring them to it. You have to invite them to it. You have to nurture the process.'So under Kerry's foreign policy, we would have "invited" and "nurtured" the Taliban towards Democracy. And this man wants to be President?
