Afghanistan holds its breath

Update 10 Oct: "The Taliban did not need to disrupt the elections; the UN managed it for them [...] Instead of bombs there could easily be a riot."
[ Afghan Election Mess ]

As the 9th October presidential elections draw near, many people in Afghanistan are anticipating violence and electoral fraud. Already there have been reports of intimidation and vote-rigging.

With aid being manipulated for political ends, 20'000 US troops still (illegally) remaining in the country, powerful warlords and commanders abusing people with impunity in many areas and various armed groups trying to prevent the elections, Afghanistan is fast becoming an even more dangerous place to be, and lots of internationals are leaving the country ahead of this weekend.

"There is no difference between the forces of the Taliban and the Mujahidin and all the others who carry guns. Only the faces and the clothes have changed," -a man from Herati

It seems that the US is pushing hard for a victory for Hamid Karzai, with Bush in need of a media coup in time for his own elections in the US. Hence the attempts to engineer something that can be spun as a 'democratic success', whatever the human cost.

[ reports: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ]