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Vote count starts in Afghan poll
Thursday, 20 August 2009 BBC News
Counting has begun in Afghanistan's second presidential election since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
Karzai calls on Afghans to defy Taliban and vote
Reuters 20 August 2009
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai called on Afghans to defy Taliban threats and vote, hours before polls opened in an election on Thursday that could prove the toughest test yet of his own mandate and his nation’s fragile democracy.
Afghans Voting, Despite Sporadic Violence
August 20, 2009 By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
After a slow start, voting is picking up across Afghanistan for presidential and provincial council elections, despite reports of scattered violence aimed at disrupting the poll.
Karzai's record patchy in calm province
CNN 20 Aug 2009
SHINIA, Afghanistan - Agajan has a message for Afghanistan's incumbent politicians. The turbaned, gap-toothed man may only be a humble shopkeeper, but on election day, Agajan will exercise his right and vote against the president.
Poll: Most say Afghanistan war not worth fighting
AP By WILL LESTER 20 Aug 2009
WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans say the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting, according to a poll released on the eve of that nation's elections.
Afghanistan's Helmand Province Becomes Electoral Litmus Test
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty By Abubakar Siddique August 19, 2009
Continuing their monthlong advance into the countryside of Helmand Province, U.S. Marines and Afghan forces this week captured the administrative center of the northern Nawzad district.
Afghan Presidential Candidates React to Vote
By VOA News 20 August 2009
Here is what some of the main Afghan presidential candidates are saying about the 20 August election:
Imams Getting Out the Vote in Afghanistan
By Rahim Gul Sarwan VOA News Nangahar Province, Afghanistan 20 August 2009
The people of Afghanistan vote Thursday in presidential and provincial elections. Throughout the country, which is officially known as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, leaders of the Muslim clergy, imams, are doing their part to urge people to vote.
What Afghan Election Result is Best for the U.S.?
TIME By Tony Karon Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
National elections got underway on Thursday in Afghanistan, with early reports trickling in of scattered explosions near polling sites around the country, including the capital, Kabul.
‘Not any more with Karzai!’
Camelia Entekhabifard- Kabul The Egyptian Gazette
THERE is not a night, which local TV’s in Afghanistan didn’t show old pictures of famous Taliban fighters and carried their latest message .Gholbodin Hekmatyar, an Afghani Taliban and one of the most wanted men by Americans
Karzai and Warlords Mount Massive Vote Fraud Scheme
Analysis by Gareth Porter* IPS-Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (IPS) - Afghanistan's presidential election has long been viewed by U.S. officials as a key to conferring legitimacy on the Afghan government, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai
Afghan royal eyes poll success
By Tanya Goudsouzian in Kabul Al Jazeera August 19, 2009
Abducted by armed assailants from his home in Kabul last October, 69-year-old Homayoun Shah Assefi was held captive for a week before being rescued by Afghan police.
Our view on war on terror: As Afghanistan votes, Americans’ resolve fades
USA Today 20 Aug 2009
Obama sets right goal, but can he sustain the necessary commitment?
Wearing Men's Clothes, Afghan Woman Hits The Campaign Trail
August 19, 2009 By Farangis Najibullah Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
While out campaigning, Akmina, a woman from the deeply conservative and volatile Khost Province, wears men's clothing and carries a Kalashnikov.
West needs to look beyond Karzai in Afghanistan
Online Journal By Ehsan Azari 20 Aug 2009
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has many faces, like the colors of his trademark billowing chapan (cloak). One shines in his antipathy towards Afghan intelligentsia and another in his indissoluble bond with the Afghan warlords.
Kandahar blast kills 6 ahead of elections
Press TV August 20, 2009
A blast has left six people killed in the Afghan city of Kandahar as 17 million people are getting ready to vote in the presidential elections.
Pakistani Taliban Commander Claims Temporary Leadership of Group
By VOA News 19 August 2009
A top Pakistani Taliban commander says he is temporarily assuming leadership of the militant group because its chief Baitullah Mehsud is unwell.
Indonesia faces a wave of refugees from Afghanistan
Voice of America (VOA) By Solenn Honorine
Puncak Pass, Indonesia, 20 August 2009 - In the past 18 months, hundreds of asylum seekers from Afghanistan have flocked to Indonesia, in the hope of reaching neighboring Australia. But for many
Near-Epidemic of Land and Home Theft
By Lal Aqa Sherin*
KABUL, Aug 20 (IPS) - Afghans are queuing up Thursday to vote in an election that could give President Hamid Karzai a second term. Still, many among them could be wondering if democracy is working for the majority of people.
Stolen Land and Political Power
By Lal Aqa Sherin IPS-Inter Press Service
KABUL, Aug 20 (IPS) - Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission says that in the last seven months they have received 12 complaints about stolen land. The complaints cover the map, ranging from Wardak, Panjsher and Kapisa, to Parwan and Kabul.
Early Ramadan Raises Health Concerns
August 20, 2009 By Kristin Deasy Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
For the first time in a decade, Muslims will be observing the holy month of Ramadan in what will be the peak of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
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Vote count starts in Afghan poll
Thursday, 20 August 2009 BBC News
Counting has begun in Afghanistan's second presidential election since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
There were some attacks by the Taliban, who had vowed to disrupt the vote, but the UN says the vast majority of polling stations were able to function.
Fewer people voted in the south, where militant influence is greater.
President Hamid Karzai faces about 30 rivals. Initial official results are not expected for two weeks, but there may be earlier indications.
The election follows a lively campaign period in which dozens of candidates vied for the presidency - but it was marred by violent attacks and frequent complaints of pre-election corruption and fraud.
Polls officially closed at 1700 (1230 GMT), after being kept open for an extra hour.
Some 300,000 Afghan and international troops were on patrol to prevent attacks.
Violent incidents around the country included:
- Taliban militants stormed a town in Baghlan, northern Afghanistan, preventing polling stations from opening, police tell AFP news agency. At least eight died in ensuing clashes with police
- Taliban militants set fire to a bus on the Kandahar-Kabul highway in Ghazni, after offloading passengers and the driver, reportedly as punishment for violating a Taliban ban on using the road
- Rockets hitting houses in Khost and Kandahar provinces killed two women and several children
- Also in Khost, a civilian car hit a roadside bomb, killing one person and injuring three
- Two suicide bombers on a motorbike in Gardez, Paktia province, were killed before hitting their target, police said
- In northern Baghlan province, a district police chief was killed when Taliban militants attacked a police post
- In Kabul, the bodies of two alleged militants were recovered after a gun battle with police in a residential district - police said they were suicide bombers but it is unclear whether they blew themselves up or were shot dead.
Voting fears
The polls - which also see voters electing members to provincial councils - are the first organised primarily by Afghans themselves.
The vast majority of the country's 6,969 polling stations were able to open despite the security threat, the UN said.
Speaking on state TV, the director of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission, Azizullah Loudin, claimed turnout had been "high".
Apart from the earlier gun battle in Kabul, the city was mainly reported to be quiet, with a brisk turnout in some polling stations while there was little activity in others.
Despite repeated blasts being heard in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of militant stronghold Helmand province, lots of voters were coming out, though in next-door Kandahar turnout appeared to be low.
And in Jalalabad, eastern Nangarhar province, some districts reported no voters at all.
The BBC's Martin Patience points out that three-quarters of Afghans live in the country's 30,000 rural villages - so it is turnout in the countryside which is key.
A voter in Kabul said she hoped the election would bring security to Afghanistan.
"We want the next president to stop the killing of innocent people and to find jobs for the people, and bring peace."
But other would-be voters said they feared for their safety, while yet others said they had little faith in Afghan democracy.
"Unfortunately, democracy has been exported to Afghanistan, it hasn't grown up from the bottom to the top," said one.
Across the country, some 17 million Afghans were eligible to vote.
There were widespread concerns about corruption in the run-up to the poll, with reports of voting cards being openly sold and of candidates offering large bribes.
Taliban threats
Opinion polls put support for Hamid Karzai, one of more than 30 candidates, at about 45%, with his former Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, in second place with 25%.
His other two main opponents are the independent candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and ex-World Bank official Ramazan Bashardost.
Voting in Kabul shortly after polls opened, Mr Karzai urged all Afghans to cast ballots in defiance of the insurgents.
"God willing, this will be for peace, for progress, and for the well-being of the Afghan people. Vote. No violence."
Also voting, Mr Abdullah called it a "day of change, a day of hope" - but fellow contender Mr Bashardost said he had washed off the supposedly indelible ink used to identify people who have voted.
"This is not an election, this is a comedy," Mr Bashardost said, calling on authorities to stop the election.
But his claims were rejected by the Independent Election Commission.
Official preliminary results are not expected until 2 September, with the full final results scheduled for 17 September.
If the winning candidate fails to gain more than 50% of the vote on Thursday, there will be a second-round run-off in October.
AFGHAN POLLS
17 million eligible voters
Polls opened at 0700 (0230 GMT) and close at 1600
As well as presidential polls, voters choosing between 3,000 candidates for 420 seats in provincial councils
Official preliminary results not expected for two weeks but may be earlier indications
300,000 troops on patrol (including 100,000 foreign troops)
250,000 observers and journalists
First polls organised by Afghans themselves, but with international support
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Karzai calls on Afghans to defy Taliban and vote
Reuters 20 August 2009
KABUL - President Hamid Karzai called on Afghans to defy Taliban threats and vote, hours before polls opened in an election on Thursday that could prove the toughest test yet of his own mandate and his nation’s fragile democracy.
Nearly as much as it is a test for Karzai, the election is also a high political hurdle for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has ordered a massive troop build-up this year as part of a strategy to reverse Taliban gains.
Streets in the Afghan capital were tense, police were out on round-the-clock shifts, and Karzai insisted the Taliban, stronger than at any time since they were toppled in 2001, would fail in their pledge to disrupt the country’s second-ever presidential vote.
“Enemies will do their best, but it won’t help,” he told reporters late on Wednesday.
“I hope that tomorrow our countrymen, millions of them, will come and vote for the country’s stability, for the country’s peace, for the country’s progress.”
Karzai himself faces an unexpectedly strong challenge from his former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah.
Polls, the most recent conducted more than a month ago, show Karzai winning by a wide margin, but not by enough to secure victory in a single round.
Should he fail to win more than 50 percent, Karzai would most likely face Abdullah in a run-off in October.
Perhaps greater than the threat at the ballot box is the threat on the battlefield from Taliban insurgents, who have vowed to disrupt the voting and ordered Afghans to stay home.
In a series of statements on Wednesday the Taliban said they had infiltrated 20 suicide bombers into Kabul and would close all the country’s roads, taking no responsibility for the deaths of anyone who defied them to go to the polls.
U.S. officials say there may be some violence, but they do not think it will reach the scale needed to wreck the vote.
Increased attacks
The extent of any violence is nearly impossible to predict. The tempo of attacks has clearly increased in the weeks leading to the poll, with fighters mounting two big suicide car-bomb strikes and a building siege inside the normally secure capital.
Security in most of the country is still far better than it was in Iraq when several successful elections were held there. But the Taliban may be able to fatally damage the vote even without big attacks, if their threats keep people from voting.
More than 30,000 U.S. troops have arrived in Afghanistan this year, raising the size of the international force there above 100,000 for the first time, including 63,000 Americans.
The new troops have made bold advances into previously Taliban-held areas, but have also taken by far the worst casualties of the war. More Western troops have died in Afghanistan since March than in the entire period from 2001-04.
The Afghan government issued a “request” two days before the election that international and Afghan media refrain from publishing any information about violence in the country between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. (0130-1530 GMT) on polling day.
The United Nations says it has asked the authorities to reconsider the measure. Afghan journalists said the ban, if enforced, could make the situation worse by depriving Afghans of credible information about the scope of any violence, opening the country up to the spread of unchecked rumours.
Richard Holbrooke, Obama’s envoy to Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan, said on a visit to the region expectations for the poll’s outcome needed to be realistic.
“The election is difficult to hold in a war-time country. And we’re not sure how many polling stations will be closed because of security. Taliban has said they’re going to close them all. But I don’t know how many they will succeed in closing,” he said.
“No election is perfect. Don’t expect a perfect election.”
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Afghans Voting, Despite Sporadic Violence
August 20, 2009 By Abubakar Siddique Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
After a slow start, voting is picking up across Afghanistan for presidential and provincial council elections, despite reports of scattered violence aimed at disrupting the poll.
The August 20 vote will determine whether incumbent President Hamid Karzai, a heavy favorite, will be able to secure a first-round victory over more than 30 other candidates.
Within hours after polling stations opened at 7 a.m., incumbent President Hamid Karzai cast his vote and urges his fellow Afghans to do the same.
"I'm sure that, inshallah, this will be for peace, for progress, and for the well-being of the Afghan people," Karzai said.
"And I request the Afghan people to come out and vote, so that through their vote Afghanistan can be a more secure, more peaceful, and a better country," he said.
Rockets attacks, gun battles, and bomb blasts were reported in the capital and the insurgency-plagued southern Pashtun regions as voting began.
Reports say two Taliban fighters were killed in Kabul during a gunbattle with police. The Taliban said 20 of their fighters had infiltrated the capital in an effort to disrupt voting.
Before the vote, the Afghan government tried to impose a controversial ban on the media reporting on such incidents, which the UN says it has asked the authorities to lift.
Karzai is a heavy favorite to win a second five-year term but will need more than 50 percent of the vote to score a first-round victory. The incumbent is expected to face his greatest challenge from former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Former Planning Minister Ramazan Bashardost and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani are other top contenders.
Defy Threats
Abdullah urged voters to defy the Taliban's threats to use violence to disrupt the polls, which will also determine 420 provincial council seats in 34 provinces. High turnout is seen as a key benchmark for the legitimacy of the election.
"I am happy that a lot of people are participating in this election despite security concerns and concerns about fraud in the election," he said. "Our people are participating all over Afghanistan. I hope none of these concerns stop our people from going to the polls, so people can make their own future with their free vote."
A slow start this morning led to fears that the threat of violence would keep people away. But as the day went on there were signs that Afghans, including increasing numbers of women, were indeed turning out to vote.
Glitches reported in early voting ran from the unavailability of voting supplies -- such as indelible ink, stationery, and ballot-punching equipment -- to refusals by polling staff to serve in remote, insurgency-plagued villages. Some 300,000 Afghan and international troops are providing security for the process, but there will be no voting in nine Taliban-controlled districts.
The Independent Election Commission says most of the country's approximately 6,500 polling stations are open and the process is moving forward smoothly.
'With Confidence'
Interior Ministry spokesman Zmarai Bashari says the country's security plan is working.
"The security plan we have implemented in Kabul and the rest of the country has great benefits," he told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan. "And our compatriots are moving toward polling bravely and with confidence."
Reports from across the relatively stable northern, northeastern central and western Afghan provinces indicate that long lines of voters could be seen outside polling stations. In the eastern province of Nangarhar, people were reportedly turning out to vote in large numbers.
Atiqullah Ludin, governor of Logar Province, south of Kabul, says that despite a rocket attack this morning in rural districts, people are participating in the elections.
"The voting process simultaneously began across all districts of Logar. In some districts crowds of people can be seen waiting in lines. The situation is normal," he said.
In southwestern Nimroz Province, Governor Ghulam Dastageer Azad said people are lining up to cast their votes in the provincial capital, Zaranj, and in rural districts of the province.
"Fortunately, so far we have not seen any major problems," Azad said. "I hope that people's participation increases. The overall interest of the people in the elections is very good."
RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan contributed to this story.
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Karzai's record patchy in calm province
CNN 20 Aug 2009
SHINIA, Afghanistan - Agajan has a message for Afghanistan's incumbent politicians. The turbaned, gap-toothed man may only be a humble shopkeeper, but on election day, Agajan will exercise his right and vote against the president.
"I won't vote for Hamid Karzai," says Agajan, who according to local custom uses only one name. "He did not pave the road, he promised to rebuild Bamiyan, but he didn't deliver."
Agajan points from his shop -- a low, mud-brick building with hand-carved wooden shutters where he sells beans, rice and cookies -- at the rutted dirt road outside his doorway, and at the freshly-painted medical clinic across the street. Looks can be deceiving. Agajan says the clinic has no doctors and no medicine.
His shop window is plastered with posters of several of the more than 90 candidates also running for Bamiyan's provincial council. But Agajan has conspicuously left one provincial council candidate's poster lying down on the windowsill.
"The incumbent," Agajan explains with a hearty laugh. "He didn't do anything for us."
According to the Afghan Independent Election Commission, more than 200,000 voters were registered to cast their ballots Thursday in this picturesque, relatively peaceful province in central Afghanistan.
On the eve of the election, cargo trucks escorted by Afghan police in pickup trucks, bounced up bone-jarring mountain roads to deliver blue plastic ballot box kits to schools and mosques that will serve as polling centers Thursday.
In addition to ballot papers and voting ink, the kits are equipped with flashlights and batteries since so many polling stations across the country do not have electricity.
Unlike southern, eastern and increasingly northern Afghanistan, Bamiyan is a virtual oasis of peace, spared the daily drumbeat suicide attacks and roadside bombs.
The ethnic Hazaras, who make up the much of the population here, suffered terribly at the hands of the Taliban until the movement's overthrow in 2001.
The Taliban were fundamentalist sunni Muslims, who viewed Hazaras from the shiite sect of Islam as infidels. The militants also attracted international and local condemnation when they demolished Bamiyan's two ancient 100-foot tall Buddha statues.
And yet, despite the fact that this has been one of the peaceful provinces in the country, eight years after the Taliban's overthrow, many locals complain that Bamiyan has been overlooked when it comes to reconstruction and development. For example, there are still fewer than five miles of paved road in Bamiyan.
Despite accusations of neglect, many residents here say they will vote to re-elect Karzai.
In the run-up to the vote, Karzai won the endorsement of two former Hazara militia commanders, Abdul Karim Khalili and Mohammed Mohaqeq, who fought against rival ethnic militias during the bloody civil war of the 1990s.
During a rally in Bamiyan earlier this month, Khalili told supporters "a vote for Karzai is a vote for me," said one Western official who works in the area.
Jumaqul Mohamdjan, an 18-year old high school student, said he will vote for Karzai even though, he noted, "Karzai did nothing for Bamiyan. But Khalili," he added, "did everything for Bamiyan."
As part of his re-election bid, Karzai has recruited other former warlords with dubious human rights records to his election campaign, including Tajik leader Mohammed Fahim as a vice-presidential running mate and former Uzbek militia commander Rashid Dostum.
Dostum returned from exile in Turkey to campaign for Karzai this week, after fleeing the country following clashes with a rival in Kabul. Dostum's return was openly criticized by the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.
There has already been criticism among human rights activists and some diplomats, of what some have called Karzai's campaign platform of warlords.
"I'm still happy and hopeful that there seem to be elections," said Amnesty International's Sam Zarifi, in an interview earlier this month. "But Karzai's not even running on a platform of promises or performance, but just an old fashioned Afghan cutting of deals, which is a shame."
"This campaign will cost Karzai enormously," said one Western diplomat stationed in Afghanistan, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The diplomat said if Karzai wins this election, "Karzai's victory will come at a drastically higher political price than the 2004 elections."
Shoe cobbler Kaka Muchi said he was voting for Karzai's record of stability in Bamiyan. "Business is not bad," he said, as he pulled a needle and thread through the sole of an old sneaker, "as long as there is security."
But even this mile-high pocket of tranquility has seen its calm come under threat in recent months.
Afghan and international election workers in Bamiyan say they have received reports in recent weeks of armed men going house to house warning people not to vote.
And commanders of the small contingent of soldiers from New Zealand based in Bamiyan told CNN they have seen a spike in insurgent attacks over the last four months.
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Poll: Most say Afghanistan war not worth fighting
AP By WILL LESTER 20 Aug 2009
WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans say the war in Afghanistan is not worth fighting, according to a poll released on the eve of that nation's elections.
An ABC News-Washington Post poll found 51 percent who said the war was not worth fighting, while 47 percent said it was worth it.
Only a quarter in the poll favored sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan while almost twice as many would like to see the number of troops decreased. At the beginning of this year, people were slightly more inclined to say the number of troops should be increased than decreased.
Three years ago the U.S. had about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan. There are expected to be about 68,000 by year's end.
By a 2-1 margin, the poll found that people doubted Thursday's election in Afghanistan will produce an effective government. The voting to choose a new president comes at a time when the nation is struggling with an armed insurgency, drugs, corruption and a weak government.
The public is more supportive of President Barack Obama's handling of the Afghanistan war than of the war itself, with six in 10 in the ABC-Post poll saying they approve. Those findings are similar to those of an AP-GfK poll last month that found 55 percent approved of Obama's handling of the war in Afghanistan.
The AP poll in mid-July found that 44 percent favored the Afghanistan war and 53 percent were opposed. People were opposed to the Iraq war by a 2-1 margin in the AP poll.
U.S. officials say the Afghan elections can be an important step toward achieving the key goal of preventing that country from again sheltering al-Qaida.
About six in 10 in the ABC-Post poll said they are confident in the ability of the U.S. and its allies to defeat the Taliban and provide effective economic development.
Participants in the poll were divided on the question of whether the U.S. is winning the war in Afghanistan, with 42 percent saying the U.S. is winning and 36 percent saying the U.S. is losing. The rest said neither side is winning, or were undecided.
The ABC-Post poll of 1,001 people was taken Aug. 13-17 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
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Afghanistan's Helmand Province Becomes Electoral Litmus Test
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty By Abubakar Siddique August 19, 2009
Continuing their monthlong advance into the countryside of Helmand Province, U.S. Marines and Afghan forces this week captured the administrative center of the northern Nawzad district.
The accomplishment is significant, considering that just weeks ago Nawzad was considered to be one of 10 districts out of a total of 13 in the province that the Afghan government considered to be under Taliban control.
Helmand Governor Gulab Mangal traveled to Nawzad on August 17 to claim victory, hoist the Afghan national flag, and urge locals to participate in presidential and provincial-council elections set for August 20.
"We should [all work together] to expand this victory achieved by the valor, hard work, and sacrifice of the armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and international forces," he told a crowd of turbaned Pashtun peasants, adding that the move will ensure that "all corners of Nawzad district can experience peace and all its residents can live in security and participate in the election."
But a local elder, responding from the crowd in a choked-up voice, said that if the government wants to secure participation in the election, it will have to deliver sustainable peace and key services.
"Without ensuring security, nobody can come to you to get [voter-registration] cards. And nobody dares cast their votes in ballot boxes," the man said.
"People who could afford to rent homes and set up businesses elsewhere have already left Nawzad. Laborers, the hungry, and the destitute are still living inside the four walls of their houses here. First you should build a [stable political] system. I will then come to you ask for help in cleaning my irrigation channel."
This scene captures the dilemma the people of restive southern Helmand face on the eve of the critical elections. While many Helmandis would like to vote, insecurity and the fear of future Taliban reprisals threaten to keep them away from polling stations.
Fear Of Taliban Reprisals
Considered by many to be the country's most insecure province, Helmand accounts for a lion's share of the world's opium supply and some remote areas remain under Taliban control, despite a recent security push by some 15,000 U.S., British, and Afghan troops to establish security.
Roughly as big as the Switzerland, holding successful elections in Helmand is seen as the critical test for the success or failure of stabilization efforts in Afghanistan because it will signal which way the insurgency-plagued Pashtun heartland of the country might go.
Though the security situation has improved after the recent security operations, the Taliban remains a considerable threat.
According to Mohammad Aliyas Daee, a correspondent for RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan in Helmand, insurgent commanders in certain parts of the province have reportedly agreed with the local elders to allow voting. The Taliban has vowed to disrupt the elections and has stepped up attacks recently.
Out of the planned 222 polling centers in the province, only 107 are expected to open, according to Daee. Northern Helmand's Washir district is still controlled by the Taliban, which also dominates large swaths of rural areas, particularly in the Nawzad and Nad Ali districts.
Fears of the Taliban may outweigh the government's efforts to persuade voters they will be secure both on polling day and afterwards. "If we compare people's backing of the government and Taliban fears, the Taliban pressures and are much bigger," Daee says.
He recounted a recent trip with the governor to Margeer, a dusty village halfway between the provincial capital Laskhkargah and the town of Gereskh. Daee says that while the governor was addressing local residents, the Taliban was threatening them in its radio broadcasts, saying, "if you go there, we will cut you into pieces."
Bringing Security
The grim milestone of 200 British military deaths in Afghanistan has renewed the debate about how to move forward in Helmand and the rest of the country.
Over the past few years, The Afghan government and its international partners have blamed each other for losing Helmand to the Taliban. Helmand was relatively stable until 2005, when regional strongman and Governor Sher Mohammad Akhundzada was removed by President Hamid Karzai for suspected drug links under immense international pressure.
Despite the presence of some 6,000 British troops, which later rose to 9,000, the Taliban crept back into the province and took control of most of it until U.S. Marines, British, and Afghan forces launched their effort in early July to establish security for the August vote.
Sources in Helmand say that locals are likely to back these efforts if they sense that such initiatives are sustainable and can deliver long-term peace.
On August 15, thousands participated in a campaign rally for President Karzai, hoping to catch a glimpse of the incumbent, who is seeking a second term on August 20. However, the lack of security kept Karzai away, and they had to settle for a message delivered by telephone.
"This election is a matter of life and death for Afghanistan," Karzai told the gathering. "If you all, the people of Helmand, come out to vote to elected a strong and positive government, inshallah it will bring back peace and reconciliation to Afghanistan."
In a sign that the relative success of the recent Helmand offensive has raised hopes in the West, visiting Republican Senator John McCain told journalists in Kabul on August 18 that the U.S. is ready to commit more resources to Afghanistan.
"It is very clear to me that more resources are needed in the form of additional troops as well as material, economic, and other support." McCain said.
"The troop levels, I believe, need to be significantly increased," he continued, adding we would "look forward" to "recommendations" from the commander of NATO and U.S. troops in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal.
But a message delivered by the Afghan government has also raised fears that the security situation may be skewed on election day. In a message delivered on August 18, the government called on Western and Afghan news media outlets not to report on any violent attacks that may occur during the August 20 polling.
Authorities fear that reports of violence on election day could harm voter turnout, but human rights activists and journalists alike have condemned the government's call.
RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent in Helmand Mohammad Aliyas Daee contributed to this story
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Afghan Presidential Candidates React to Vote
By VOA News 20 August 2009
Here is what some of the main Afghan presidential candidates are saying about the 20 August election:
Incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai
"It's the second presidential and parliamentary election in Afghanistan and I'm sure that, Inshallah [God willing], this will be for peace, for progress and for the well being of the Afghan people and I request the Afghan people to come out and vote so that, through their vote, Afghanistan can be more secure, more peaceful and a better country."
Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah
"I'm concerned about the violence which is underway today, about security incidents, but a sa whole I'm very positive.... There have been some reports from some parts of the country but still people have shown their courage, their resilience and they have participated."
Former finance minister Ghani Ahmadzai
"I hope that we can peacefully resolve all the critical issues that would be arising regarding fraud. We are determined to avoid a Kenya and Zimbabwe at any cost and we are grateful for the support that the people of Europe and the rest of the world are providing."
Lawmaker Ramazan Bashardost
"So there is transparency, it is not honest, it is not free because the ink is not here. I can vote twice, I can vote a third [time]. It is the reason that I ask Karzai, the American Ambassador, especially the American Ambassador, and Mr. Ludin [Azizullah Ludin, head of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission] to stop immediately, immediately this election."
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Imams Getting Out the Vote in Afghanistan
By Rahim Gul Sarwan VOA News Nangahar Province, Afghanistan 20 August 2009
The people of Afghanistan vote Thursday in presidential and provincial elections. Throughout the country, which is officially known as the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, leaders of the Muslim clergy, imams, are doing their part to urge people to vote.
Worshippers at the Chaknori Mosque in Jalalabad, capital of Nangahar Province, are listening to a mix of religion and politics. In an officially Islamic country, there is nothing at all unusual about this. In fact, 156 imams are travelling throughout the country with the specific mission of talking to people about Thursday's election.
"We have paid special attention to the fact that religious and tribal leaders are very influential in our society and we appointed many of these people to encourage people to get involved in the political campaign and it has been quite successful," said Dr. Akhtar Mohammad, director of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission in Nangarhar Province.
Many of the imams are working in rural areas, where people are mostly illiterate and have little access to information. Imam Mawlawi Wali Ahmad and other civic educators have come to this village to talk with people about the importance of the election and the need to learn as much as they can about the candidates.
The imam combines practical information with religious references and he tells them that their vote is their voice. Hebelieves it is good for religious scholars like himself to take on this role because imams are respected leaders in society. But he does not tell people who to vote for.
"You should vote for the person that you like and that you think will serve the people. That person can be anyone you choose. We are not supposed to tell you whom to vote for as this is not our policy," he said.
At the end of the meeting, materials are passed out to the villagers to share with others in their communities. They explain the voting process in illustrations that are clear to people who cannot read, so they will know what procedures to expect on election day.
According to Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission, the main objective of its public outreach is to educate voters of all ethnicities and levels of education about the electoral process, and to "spread the culture" of free and fair elections. The commission says impartiality is one of its main principles, and that its activities do not favor any particular organization, person or group.
And the advice imams offer is both needed and welcomed, according to this Kuchi elder. "What the religious leaders say about the elections is very important. People respect them and listen to what they say. Most people in the villages don't know where to go and how to vote and thus their instructions are very useful," he said.
The imams say they are not only explaining the voting process to the people of Afghanistan. They are also doing something else that to them is equally important: They are showing that, in a democracy, religion and government can support each other.
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What Afghan Election Result is Best for the U.S.?
TIME By Tony Karon Thursday, Aug. 20, 2009
National elections got underway on Thursday in Afghanistan, with early reports trickling in of scattered explosions near polling sites around the country, including the capital, Kabul. What's the optimal outcome for the U.S. in today's election? In the last presidential race in 2004, that question would have been a no-brainer. Hamid Karzai was Washington's man, campaigning as the incumbent in Afghanistan's first post-Taliban election, having been installed by international edict after the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
Today, however, Karzai epitomizes a political status quo deemed untenable in Washington, because its rampant corruption, cronyism and failure to deliver security and services to the citizenry has enabled a massive Taliban resurgence. "The U.S. priority in Afghanistan today is waging a counterinsurgency war, in which good governance in an important element," says Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International studies, who recently visited Afghanistan as part of the team advising U.S. commander General Stanley McChrystal. By the measure of good governance, Karzai has been a failure, and nobody expects much different if he's reelected.
However, unlike in 2004, Karzai this time faces serious electoral challengers — candidates liked and respected by the U.S., and whom many in Kabul believe have been encouraged by Washington to run. While Karzai remains the frontrunner, chances are growing that his opponents could force him to contest a runoff race in October by denying him the 50% plus one vote needed for a first-round victory.
Despite its frustrations with Karzai, however, the U.S. is not pinning its hopes on the incumbent being replaced. "Although the election is very important, It would be a mistake to put too much importance on its outcome," suggests Stephen Biddle of the Council on Foreign Relations. "The question of which personality is president may be less important than the structure of governance in Afghanistan. If Karzai were to lose, the next incumbent would face many of the same pressures that Karzai has faced. There are serious structural problem of splintered power and authority, and central government weakness, that would affect whomever was president. Unless the United States uses the leverage we have to change the incentives for malign behavior, a different head of state is likely to face many of the same problems that this head of state does. It will take a lot more than this election to shape the sort of governance we need to make a success of the war."
Washington's priority is a counterinsurgency strategy aimed at halting the Taliban's momentum by the end of next year, by providing security, the rule of law and economic development in communities where the insurgents currently hold sway. To that end, having Afghans participate at all in the election process could help legitimize the new political order in Afghanistan — which may be precisely why the Taliban is waging a campaign of violence and intimidation to keep people away from the polls on Thursday. For the Taliban, the optimal outcome is a low turnout producing a new wave of turmoil that further undermines the legitimacy of the government in Kabul. (Read a story about the Taliban threat to disrupt the Afghan election.)
Creating security conditions to enable more Afghans to vote has been the tactical priority of U.S. efforts for much of this year, deflecting from undertaking the development and reconstruction work deemed critical to the success of the counterinsurgency campaign. And even then, with the Taliban posing an active threat to polling in almost half of the country, there's a real danger of a turnout too low to legitimize the election. "If it's under 30%, there will be appeals by almost everyone to say that this is not a legitimate election, and that we'll need another election," Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid, who has written two authoritative books on the Taliban, told the Council on Foreign Relations this week. "The other problem is that there are going to be massive charges of rigging no matter who wins. If Karzai wins, the opposition is going to accuse him of rigging the election. If Karzai does not do well, he'll say his voters in the south, where the Taliban insurgency is strong, were not allowed to come out and vote."
Cordesman warns that those looking to cry foul already have plenty of material to work with. "Karzai has spent months trying to exploit traditional ties and allegiances by buying bloc votes from ex-warlords, local leaders, and power brokers," Cordesman noted in emailed comments. "The joke is that he has promised governorships to three times more such leaders than there are provinces. The reality is that Karzai's top running mates are the equivalent of warlords, and he [has] done everything possible to buy the election long before the vote will actually occur. As a result, the real question is how many Afghan voters will actually stay bought when they go to the polls."
Whatever its outcome, the election is likely to leave the U.S. facing a tricky political environment for its counterinsurgency strategy. "No one doubts that any future Karzai government will still be tied to corruption, favoritism, and power brokers — with links to organized crime, narcotics trafficking, and officials who sometimes have links to the Taliban," says Cordesman. On the other hand, "If Abdullah should win, a man who has never governed or administered any significant body will take over. Just as would be the case with Karzai, Abdullah will then be faced with ministries that lack capacity, are corrupt, that do not serve most Afghans outside Kabul with any competence, and that will still control virtually all state funds... There will be no meaningful government services in far too many areas. There will be no Afghan source of security. Instead, there will be a corrupt and ineffective police, and no courts and jails."
Regardless of the result, then, the post-election challenge facing the U.S. and its allies will be to use the leverage offered by the fact that Afghanistan's central government remains almost entirely dependent on Western troops and financial assistance to create effective local and provincial government, and strengthen the ministries of the central government, fighting corruption and delivering the services that Afghans desperately need. The outcome of the election will simply signal just how difficult meeting that challenge will be.
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‘Not any more with Karzai!’
Camelia Entekhabifard- Kabul The Egyptian Gazette
THERE is not a night, which local TV’s in Afghanistan didn’t show old pictures of famous Taliban fighters and carried their latest message .Gholbodin Hekmatyar, an Afghani Taliban and one of the most wanted men by Americans is one of them .These horrifying messages are threatening the nation from shooting rockets to the poll stations up to cut the fingers of whom that spotted having ink on their fingers on the election. But as much as election day getting closer on today, the excitement is increasing too. But since the main threat is in southern part of Afghanistan, people ask if the new president would be elected only by northern people? With the return of Abdul Rashid Doostam, famous warlord of northern part of Afghanistan, Karzi feel a little more release because he is not popular at north at all comparing to his rival Abdullah Abdullah and having Doostam at his side is more promising for him. Abdullah make a historical record when in the last official day for campaigners on Monday, visited Paktia, the capital of Ghardiz, which considered as a main place from three side surrounded by Taliban fighters. He took the risk to respond to the invitation of the elders of Ghardiz, who made a big welcoming ceremony for him on Monday afternoon. Abdullah Abdullah, who had a big rally at Kabul stadium earliest that day and addressed his tens of thousands supporters comes around the nation, promised them to fight the corruption and bring justice and fight terrorism. Then he took the last opportunity to do campaign in south and travelled to Paktia to see his supporters face to face. One of the tribes eldest at the podium told Abdullah to do not betray on them as Karzai did. “Five years ago we did mistake when get hand to Karzai. Abdullah you have our promise, stay with us, don’t be unfaithful. Release our prisoners from Baghram.” (Bagharam is American military bases in north side of Kabul) Haj Mohamed the head of Jorji tribe addressed that to crowd in Paktia on Monday.
It’s clear for everyone that the competition is between Abdullah and Karzai but with charismatic Abdullah who is well educated, well spoken and with the ability to charm the people, Karzi clearly understand that may Abdullah win in the first round. Not like Karzai who for security reasons haven’t been at any where during his campaigned except to Qandehar and Hearat, Abdullah crossed all four coroners of Afghanistan and talked to people face to face.
Abdullah who wowed the crowd can only compare with late Ahmad Shah Masoud who killed by al- Qaeda at 2001. With such a big excitement energizing the nation is hard to predict who is the winner or what would be happen in the post election time. As much as winning this election is important for the major candidates, even Karzai didn’t mind to proudly stand next to Abdul Rashid Doostam, the Ozback leader from Mazar-e Sharif who was in semi-exile in Turkey. Doostam left Afghanistan after a big confrontation with the government almost year ago when Akbar Bay, head of the Afghan-Turk association beaten hard by Doostum’s people. Karzai had been pending his governmental position and his house surrounded by army but he has been escaped from trail with the condition to live in exile in Turkey.
He was in Turkey for a year and his passport had been taken by Turkish government up to last Saturday when apparently Karzai lifts all sanctions against him and gave him immunity for his safe retune. An act, which disappointed Americans who they believe Doostam is criminal and he violated human rights at 2001 when executed all war prisoners and buried them in mass graves in Dasht-e Leili. It may international communities are only aware of massive Talibs execution at 2001 but for Afghans no matter of which part of the nation they live, General Doostam is symbol of violence and torture. Ordinary people who filed their cases in Human Rights Watch, has chilling story of how they lost their beloved one when Kabul occupied by Doostam’s people back to the Mojahedin’s era.
They have story about the girls who had been taken for Doostam and his people and they raped and killed on the hill top of Kabul, in the old tomb of King Mohamed Nader Shah and the ground been covered with the death bodies of young girls murdered by them. This is the stories of Kabuli people who live far from Doostam’s territory in Mazar-e Sharif and his home town district Shabarghan. His return for northern people is even harder and smelled more sectarian, violence and violation of law if Karzai wins the election! Doostam’s influence or better to say the fears people have of him may forcing them to cast their votes in favour of Karzai. What would be happen to Doostam and to so many others like him, if Karzai lose the election? Is that mean we are facing a new era in Afghanistan? The nation’s blood suckers who people were expecting to see them in trail after fall of the Taliban now more powerful and reach stands next to the president happy ever after and there isn’t any one to charge them or put them in trail
Money may can buy votes but it can buy hears and people doesn’t have their hearts with Karzai anymore.
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Karzai and Warlords Mount Massive Vote Fraud Scheme
Analysis by Gareth Porter* IPS-Inter Press Service
WASHINGTON, Aug 19 (IPS) - Afghanistan's presidential election has long been viewed by U.S. officials as a key to conferring legitimacy on the Afghan government, but Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his powerful warlord allies have planned to commit large-scale electoral fraud that could have the opposite effect.
Two U.S.-financed polls published during the past week showed support for Karzai falls well short of the 51 percent of the vote necessary to avoid a runoff election. A poll by Glevum Associates showed Karzai at 36 percent, and a survey by the International Republican Institute had him at 44 percent of the vote.
Those polls suggest that Karzai might have to pad his legitimate vote total by much as 40 percent to be certain of being elected in the first round.
But Karzai has been laying the groundwork for just such a contingency for many months. By all accounts, he has forged political alliances with leading Afghan warlords who control informal militias and tribal networks in the provinces to carry out a vote fraud scheme accounting for a very large proportion of the votes.
Karzai chose Muhammad Qasim Fahim, the ethnic Tajik warlord who had been vice-president and defence minister in his government until the 2004 elections, as his running mate. In return for their support, he promised Hazara warlords Haji Muhammad Moheqiq and Karim Khalili that new provinces would be carved out from largely Hazara districts in Ghazni and Wardak provinces, as reported by Richard Oppel of the New York Times.
The socio-political structure of Afghanistan remains so hierarchical that warlords can deliver very large blocs of votes to Karzai by telling their followers to vote for him, and in some provinces - especially in the Pashtun south - by forcing local tribal elders to cooperate in voter fraud schemes.
The system in which warlords pressure tribal elders to deliver the vote for Karzai was illustrated by a village elder in Herat province who said he had been threatened by a local commander with "very unpleasant consequences" if the residents of his village did not vote for Karzai, according to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting.
As early as last May, the country's independent election monitoring organisation, the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), had documented a suite of voter registration practices that laid the groundwork for massive voter fraud.
FEFA observers, who observed voter registration in 194 of 400 voting registration centres in four provinces during one stage of the process, found that nearly 20 percent of the voters registered, on average, were under age – in many cases as young as 12 years old.
It is now estimated that 17 million voter registration cards have been issued, which means that nearly 3.5 million cards may have been issued to children.
FEFA observers also found rampant distribution of multiple voting cards. During the third phase of registration, they observed at least four incidents of such abuses in 85 percent of the centres. The voter registration staff was seen handing out cards even before applicants had been registered.
In one case, the FEFA observers saw about 500 voting cards being given to a single individual.
Another element in the Karzai scheme involves the registration of women without their actually being physically present, often on the basis of lists of names given to the registration officials. The list system for registering women was found in 99 percent of registration stations in Paktika province and 90 percent of those in Zabul and Khost provinces.
During the final phase of the registration, many centres were found to be allowing males to take the registration books home, where they supposedly obtained the fingerprints of the women.
In some of the most insecure and traditional provinces, such as Logar and in Nuristan, more than twice as many cards were issued to women as to men in 2009, and in Paktika, Paktia and Khost, 30 percent more women were registered than were men.
In Kandahar women represent 44 percent of those with voting cards. The young female MP Fawzia Koofi told The Australian that such levels of women registered could not be genuine.
The result has been to create a vast pool of voting cards, very few of which will be used by women to vote.
Reports by journalists about the acquisition of voting cards by the local strongmen indicate that this distribution of voting cards to people who would not vote was part of a plan to stuff the ballot boxes to increase the vote for Karzai.
The Times of London quoted a tribal elder in Marja district of Helmand province last week as saying that the warlord and former governor Sher Mohammad Akhudzada was organising the vote for Karzai in the province, and that he and other tribal elders were responsible for buying voting cards from voters who had registered.
Independent analyst Alex Strick van Linschoten, who is based in Kandahar, has reported schemes using police to purchase voter registration cards in several districts in the province.
Writing in the New York Times magazine Aug. 9, Elizabeth Rubin reported that an unnamed political figure in Kandahar told her in June he had manufactured 8,000 voter "fake" registration cards that had sold for 20 dollars each.
Some observers believe that various factors may constrain Karzai's effort to use warlords to swing the election. Former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald E. Neumann told IPS he is counting on the use of indelible ink on the voters' fingers to make it impossible for people to vote more than once.
He recalls, however, that the "indelible" ink used in the 2005 election turned out to be washable after all.
Neumann also hopes the existence of the Election Complaints Commission, an independent body with three international members nominated by the United Nations, will be a check on massive vote fraud.
That body investigates complaints of voter fraud and has the right under Afghan election law to order the invalidation or recounting of votes or even the conducting of new polling where it finds evidence of fraud. But it has no sub-national presence and will be heavily dependent on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), which handles all the documentary evidence pertaining to such complaints.
More problematic is the fact that the IEC is not "independent" of the Karzai regime at all. Its seven members were all appointed by Karzai, and its chairman has made no secret of his partisan support for the president.
The IEC will likely seek to cover up complaints of major fraud, and the complaints body may not be able to do much about it.
Neumann put the odds of an election that would be "good enough" in the eyes of the Afghans at "50-50".
But counterinsurgency specialists are more pessimistic. Larry Goodson of the U.S. Army College, who was on the U.S. Central Command team that worked on a detailed plan for Afghanistan and Pakistan earlier this year, told IPS, "The reality is there is going to be a lot of cheating and fraud."
Goodson said the danger for the United States in the Karzai election plan is that it "could be perceived by Afghans as promoting the legitimisation of someone who is widely perceived as illegitimate."
Australian counterinsurgency specialist David Kilcullen, who will shortly become a senior adviser to Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, declared at the U.S. Institute of Peace Aug. 6, "The biggest fear is Karzai ends up as an incredibly illegitimate figure, and we end up owning Afghanistan and propping up an illegitimate government."
*Gareth Porter is an investigative historian and journalist specialising in U.S. national security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was published in 2006.
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Afghan royal eyes poll success
By Tanya Goudsouzian in Kabul Al Jazeera August 19, 2009
Abducted by armed assailants from his home in Kabul last October, 69-year-old Homayoun Shah Assefi was held captive for a week before being rescued by Afghan police.
Before an investigation revealed that his assailants were merely thugs hoping for a hefty ransom, many in Kabul were speculating why he had been targeted.
As the brother of the late Queen of Afghanistan, and a cousin of the late King Zahir Shah, some felt Assefi might have been scapegoated by a fringe group that resented the former ruling family.
But there was also talk that it might have been for political reasons.
Assefi is known to have been critical of the current government as well as slain Afghan mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, the so-called Lion of Panjshir [valley], who remains an iconic figurehead of the Tajiks of Afghanistan.
On August 20, Assefi will be running as first vice president on the ticket of a leading contender for the top job, Abdullah Abdullah.
Royal makeover
It may appear to be an unlikely pairing – Abdullah, a former foreign minister, is a key member of the mostly Tajik Northern Alliance faction - also known as Panjshiri.
But sources speculate that it is also a bid to prove that Assefi can reinvent himself on the political scene in a way that other former royals have so far failed to do.
Not even the famously ambitious Mustapha Zaher, a grandson of the former king and a former Afghan ambassador to Italy, who later moved up to head the country's Environmental Protection Agency, has succeeded in emerging as a powerful player.
After 28 years of exile in Rome, the former king was propelled back into the limelight after the US-led invasion to oust the Taliban in 2001.
In 2001, Zahir Shah proposed an emergency Loya Jirga, or national assembly, which was used as a framework for the Bonn Agreement that paved the way for the establishment of a post-Taliban government.
He endorsed the candidacy of the former mujahideen Hamid Karzai as president, and was then given the honorific title "father of the nation", before being forsaken by the US government and left to live out the rest of his years in the heavily fortified and isolated Arg Presidential Palace.
"Simply put, whatever criticism there is on the details of the Bonn Agreement, without His Majesty Zahir Shah, the accord would not have happened," says Helena Malikyar, an expert on the history of state building in Afghanistan.
King turned king-maker
"The UN and the Americans saw the Northern Alliance as their main interlocutor, but needed the legitimacy and the broad national acceptance that only Zahir Shah's name could bring to the new regime," Malikyar, who also worked on Zahir Shah's emergency Loya Jirga initiative in 2001, says.
She points out that when the emergency Loya Jirga was eventually convened in Kabul in June 2002, it was said that approximately 90 per cent of the nation's delegates were going to vote for the restoration of monarchy under Zahir Shah.
Many believe that the former king then announced his lack of interest in holding executive power and proposed Karzai as his choice for the job as a result of considerable international pressure.
"The king, thus, became the king maker," notes Malikyar.
During his bid for the presidency in 2004, Assefi had reportedly requested - and received - the former king's permission to run but, at the eleventh hour, Zahir Shah's office issued a statement endorsing Karzai.
"I think the king essentially approved of any-body's candidacy because he thought it was a healthy exercise to have challengers in the race," says Malikyar.
Until his death in August 2007, the former king continued to provide Karzai with political legitimacy and a power base that the latter had lacked.
It is a privilege that members of the former king's own family were never bestowed.
It was only after the death of the former king that other ex-royals with the desire to become political players entered the fray full force.
But political observers say the former royals will have to rely more on their own leadership skills than the late king's good reputation.
Pashtun vote
Abdullah, whose core support base is still among the non-Pashtun elite, hopes that having Assefi as a running mate will bring in some Pashtun votes.
Ahmad Wali Massoud, who is Abdullah's campaign strategist and head of his board of policy, stresses Assefi's strengths: "He is a good man, a respected personality. He was not chosen because he is a member of the former royal family. He was chosen because he is an intellectual and he is qualified for the position."
Massoud, a younger brother of slain mujahideen leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, dismisses as irrelevant Assefi's royal lineage, but not his Pashtun ethnicity.
"For the Pashtuns, having a Pashtun in government is more important than the qualifications of the man. But Homayoun Shah Assefi is not just a Pashtun. He is an academic and an honest man," he says.
Why Assefi has chosen to run with the ophthalmologist-cum-politician remains a moot point.
Bucking the trend
In the past few years, the former royal family has mainly supported the incumbent.
Some members of the former royal family have so fiercely campaigned for Karzai that Afghans now joke that the president's election campaign headquarters are in the Haram Saray, the part of the presidential palace where the royal family resides.
Even the former king's "renegade grandson" Mustapha - who has over the years been courted by the Panjshiri faction - is thought to be backing Karzai.
Additionally, Abdul Ali Seraj, a nephew of King Amanullah who ruled between 1919 and 1929 - abandoned his own presidential bid in favour of Karzai.
The endorsement for the incumbent president reportedly came in exchange for Karzai's pledge to address the needs of Seraj's constituents.
But Nadir Naim, a grandson of Zahir Shah, denies that tribal considerations have influenced the family to favour one candidate over another.
"There has existed a strong principal and indoctrination from our elders to look at all Afghans as equals and not to favour one tribe over another," says Naim, who returned to Afghanistan in 2002 after 25 years of exile in the UK to serve as Zahir Shah's private secretary.
"I think we - especially members of my family - need to look at who would be a better leader for the next five years in Afghanistan."
Federal government?
Malikyar, who has worked in Afghanistan since 2001 as a consultant on various governance projects, stresses that the Karzai-Abdullah dichotomy "goes beyond ethnic and tribal issues".
"Abdullah has made changing the governance - from presidential to a parliamentary system - the top issue of his campaign. He has also hinted in favour of a change in the state structure, from unitary to a decentralised, possibly federal arrangement," she says.
"Assefi was opposed to such fundamental changes during his 2004 [presidential] campaign. So, whether this alliance is based on a shared pragmatic vision or sheer political expediency remains to be seen."
Massoud, however, believes Assefi is committed to the principles of Abdullah's programme for Afghanistan.
"I don't know what Assefi's platform was during his 2004 presidential bid, but he and Abdullah are very much in sync insofar as their vision for Afghanistan, to bring change and restore hope. He agrees that we need a parliamentary system in Afghanistan, and decentralisation of power," Massoud says.
Royal roots
Assefi holds a degree in international relations from a French university. He served in the Afghan foreign ministry from 1973 but, following the communist coup d'etat in 1978, he sought political asylum in France.
In 2002, he was finally able to return to Afghanistan and served as a member of the emergency Loya Jirga. In 2003, he was one of the founders and an executive member of the Tahrik Wahdat Milli of Afghanistan Party - the Movement for National Unity of Afghanistan.
However, one question remains: to what extent does the local population still revere the royal family?
Malikyar believes that elections results will reveal the emergence of trans-tribal and trans-ethnic loyalties.
This would indicate that despite the systematic marginalisation of the former king and his family, politically ambitious royals may soon be able to "bank on the former king's legacy as a truly national leader".
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Our view on war on terror: As Afghanistan votes, Americans’ resolve fades
USA Today 20 Aug 2009
Obama sets right goal, but can he sustain the necessary commitment?
As Afghans go to the polls today, two immediate questions hang in the air. Will Taliban threats to bomb polling places and cut off the fingers of voters keep many away? And will President Hamid Karzai get the 50% needed to avoid a second round runoff?
But the far larger worry is whether U.S. and NATO involvement in Afghanistan, long known as the "graveyard of empires," can still succeed — and whether the United States has the staying power to find out.
Almost eight years after the 9/11 attacks — which spurred the U.S. to invade Afghanistan, wipe out Osama bin Laden's training camps and depose the Taliban government that harbored bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network — initial success has turned to deteriorating mess.
Attacks by a revitalized Taliban have increased dramatically. In the lead-up to the presidential election, it has staged a series of bombings. Earlier this month, the new U.S. commander, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, said the Taliban has gained the upper hand.
As the Taliban grows bolder, U.S. involvement is deepening and losses are mounting. An extra 21,000 troops were recently added; the total is expected to reach a record 68,000 by the end of this year. Forty-four U.S. troops were killed in July, the most of any month of the war.
Karzai, the nation's U.S.-backed leader since late 2001, does not have control over much of the country. Warlords are making a comeback. Corruption is rampant; so is the opium trade. Women's rights are backsliding, as evidenced by a new law allowing husbands to starve their wives if they refuse to have sex with them. Large swaths of the country are gripped by violence and uncertainty.
President Obama, who inherited this worsening situation, vigorously asserted again this week that the war must be won as matter of self-defense, and he has framed the right objective: to "disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda" in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, where terrorist leaders and their Taliban allies have regrouped and bin Laden is believed to be hiding.
Beyond committing more troops, the new administration has taken several steps to change course in Afghanistan. Obama appointed veteran diplomat Richard Holbrooke to oversee the region and replaced the more conventional top commander, Gen. David McKiernan, with McChrystal, who is seen as more inclined to work on a local level to forge creative on-the-ground solutions. The administration is working with NATO partners to provide better security to villagers, rather than simply hunt down Taliban fighters.
All well and good. Despite the urgency Obama attaches to the mission, however, it still is not clear how many troops will be needed, how long success might take and what, ultimately, it will look like. In the past from Korea to Vietnam to Iraq such lack of clarity and all-out commitment have proved to be a hazardous course. Years of stalemate drain the will to fight, a phenomenon that already appears to be developing in Afghanistan.
A new Washington Post-ABC News poll shows 51% of Americans say the war in Afghanistan isn't worth fighting, and just 24% support sending more troops. European allies are skittish about deeper involvement; even in Britain, a public backlash is growing as casualties mount. Meanwhile, stress on the troops is high after years of war in two countries.
Yet counterinsurgency actions typically take more than a decade to succeed, according to a RAND Corp. report. It is a difficult trap. McChrystal is completing a review, and the sooner, the better.
If the war is to be won, support will have to be revitalized and adequate force committed for whatever strategy emerges. Today's election will be a key test of what needs to be done for the U.S. and NATO to help Afghans build a stable, reasonably representative government that does not harbor terrorists. The Taliban's threat to maim those who vote provides a clarifying moment, in an often murky conflict, about who the bad guys are and what the stakes are.
Perhaps the turnout will mark a repudiation of the Taliban's medieval barbarity. Perhaps the Afghan war, as badly as it has been going, can still be turned around. The question is whether Obama can come up with a strategy that persuades Americans and their allies to commit sufficient time, effort and resources to find out the answer.
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Wearing Men's Clothes, Afghan Woman Hits The Campaign Trail
August 19, 2009 By Farangis Najibullah Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
While out campaigning, Akmina, a woman from the deeply conservative and volatile Khost Province, wears men's clothing and carries a Kalashnikov.
She is one of 323 women throughout Afghanistan defying Taliban threats and challenging tradition by running for seats on provincial councils. Elections for the councils are being held alongside the presidential poll on August 20.
As a resident of the village of Durmuni -- situated not far from Pakistan's Waziristan region, home to hard-line Taliban militants -- she is aware that women risk their honor or even their lives by merely talking to men outside their family.
But that isn't preventing the 42-year-old Pashtun from seeking a seat on Khost's provincial council, or shura.
Her goal is clear and simple. If elected, she wants to help create job opportunities for war widows and to open daycare centers for impoverished and orphaned children.
"I want to bring change," Akmina says. "I want to improve people's lives."
The provincial council elections, last held in 2005, have been largely overshadowed by the presidential race taking place the same day.
But more than 3,300 candidates will join Akmina on election day to compete for seats on the provincial councils, advisory bodies intended to carry out state objectives and to provide advice to local administrations.
The number of council seats allotted to provinces are dependent on population. Provinces with fewer than 500,000 residents, for example, have nine seats. A province with a population of more than 3 million would have 29 seats.
The Afghan Constitution stipulates that at least 25 percent of 420 shura seats nationwide should be reserved for women. In each of the country's 34 provinces, two seats are guaranteed for women, although in theory all seats could be occupied by women if they were voted in.
In Khost Province, Akmina and five other women are competing for three seats reserved for female candidates.
'Feeling Safe'
Security represents the main challenge for candidates -- women and men alike.
The Taliban has repeatedly vowed to disrupt the elections, threatening to attack polling stations and warning people against casting their votes.
And in restive provinces such as Khost, where Akmina is running, the risk is even higher. In May, a male candidate campaigning for a shura seat in the province was killed by militants.
Aware of this, Akmina carries a Kalashnikov rifle and wears traditional Afghan men's clothing -- a long gray shirt and trousers complete with a black turban -- while meeting with potential voters.
"I feel much more secure and more confident when I wear men's outfits," she says.
Women candidates like Akmina -- a former mujahedin commander who cannot read, has never been married, and lives with her brother's family -- face immense challenges.
For many Afghans, especially in remote areas, women's traditional role is childbearing and housework.
Afghan women can put their families' honor in jeopardy for merely speaking with men outside their family, let alone meeting and greeting with voters and discussing their needs and problems.
Female candidates are not allowed to hang campaign posters in many villages, usually because local religious leaders have deemed it provocative and un-Islamic.
As a precaution, Akmina's nephews accompany her when she travels to neighboring villages to campaign.
Jamila Mojahed, a Kabul-based women's rights activist, explains the considerable hurdles female candidates face.
"There are two major security threats for female candidates. One is the lack of security in general; the second threat comes from their own families,” said Mojahed.
“When their area is not safe, families put more pressure on women. For example, husbands won't allow their wives to leave the house when there's no security outside."
A female candidate from northern Baghlan Province recently halted her election campaign altogether after a grenade was thrown into her home.
In Kandahar, Uruzgan, and Zabul provinces there were not enough women candidates to fill their guaranteed seats, posing election officials with a dilemma over how to make up the shortfall.
No Clear Role For Councils
While such uncertainties accompany the provincial elections, it is clear that the presidential poll will steal the spotlight on election day.
Provincial councils suffer from the lack of a clearly defined role, have little authority, and citizens often place little faith in them.
Ahmad Saeedi, an independent political expert in Kabul, says that the outgoing councils have failed to demonstrate over the past four years that they had any "capability or usefulness."
Saeedi also blames provincial governors for undermining local shuras.
"Provincial shura members have been marginalized in decision-makings. They have no real power and not capable of doing anything. People are not interested in them,” Saeedi said.
“Also, provincial governors are not elected by local councils, they are appointed by the central government. Provincial governors have usurped shuras' authority. The law gives shura members the power to help people, but in reality the government has not given any authority to the councils."
Akmina appears unbowed by the political challenges she faces, and insists that the lack of clear authority for provincial councils does not bother her.
Akmina, whose until the election campaign held the prestigious position of a village elder -- a role rarely given to women -- is confident that "it's up to an individual to bring power and authority to any job.
"People are tired with officials and all other leaders who have failed to improve their lives," she says. "I will be different."
Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent in Khost Province Amir Bahir contributed to this report
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West needs to look beyond Karzai in Afghanistan
Online Journal By Ehsan Azari 20 Aug 2009
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has many faces, like the colors of his trademark billowing chapan (cloak). One shines in his antipathy towards Afghan intelligentsia and another in his indissoluble bond with the Afghan warlords. His election campaign exposes this rancor more explicitly nowadays when he is using his usual tactics -- intimidation, bribery and back door dealings -- to secure himself a second term in the upcoming election and help warlords and his siblings hold on to ill-gotten wealth and power.
The security situation in the south, east and west of the country is worsening on a daily basis where a surging war is going on between the US-led Western forces and the Taliban insurgents. These are the Pashtun dominated areas, where Karzai is becoming increasingly unpopular. In these areas, most Afghan intellectuals are living at the interface between a corrupt regime and anachronistic religious extremism.
Many independent intellectuals and Western educated specialists and scholars find it very difficult serving their war-torn country, for increasing insecurity and the fear of being kidnapped for ransom. Some who, like me, dare to go to their ancestral country to serve it, an atmosphere of constant psychological pressure with invisible criminals force them to leave the country within weeks or months. During my six months stay in Kabul last year, I noted disillusionment, feelings of frustration and anxiety taking hold of the Afghan intelligentsia. I found many intellectuals disgruntled and worn down. Most Afghan expatriates live without the protection of the rule of law. Most well-educated Afghanis still flee the country yearning for resettlement in the West.
Most of the kidnappings go unreported and criminal gangs are terrorizing intellectuals and businessmen with impunity. The plague afflicts much of Afghanistan, especially Kabul and other major cities. The criminal gangs, like drug lords, are linked to the high-ranking officials of Karzai’s government. Overall erosion of security, a floundering economy, high levels of unemployment and corruption-riddled officials in the government are seemingly considered as the main reasons for the wave of kidnapping for ransom.
For some ex-pats, however, Kabul has been a California gold rush during the past eight years. The enfants terribles have been mostly linked to Karzai’s upper echelon or powerful warlords. They have jobs of their dreams, enjoying extra security and receiving special protection.
The Afghan community of expatriates can be divided into two categories. The first is a large number of Afghan experts in different fields of science, communication and humanities who are working as executives of the NGOs, high-ranking government officials and advisers to the cabinet members and the president and vice presidents. Most of them are aging retirees with academic qualifications as old as 20 to 40 years. Karzai has turned their lives around. The second category has more genuine experts who held positions on the basis of their merit but their numbers are shrinking due to increasing insecurity.
A large number of Afghan intellectuals are working in the booming media industry, which is regrettably more divisive than uniting. There are more than a dozen TV stations with 24-hour broadcasting, hundreds of radio stations, hundreds of newspapers and journals across the country. But the media are owned and controlled by political and religious parties, warlords, and the new political elite who are roundly committed to their sectarian agendas. Most of the TV programs have very dull and banal productions. This leaves foreign productions to fill the gap. Indian soap operas and movies are the staple of Afghan TV networks. Most of them have hypnotizing themes of false hope versus utter despair with forceful melodramatic endings. Hollywood productions with veiled romances also have a large share of the TV shows.
Iran’s close ties with Karzai have made way for Iranian Pan-farcism as well as Shiite politics in Afghanistan, which manipulates Dari speaking and Shia-Afghan ethnic minorities. To this end, Iran sends millions of dollars to fund sectarian programs in Afghanistan which are directed against the Pashtun majority of the country and the West.
Karzai has just endorsed barbaric marriage legislations that allow a Shia husband to deny food to his wife if she refuses his sex demand. It also saves a rapist from persecution by paying so called “blood money.” Such a law is passed at a time that Westerners and Afghans are being killed on a daily basis in the country.
In addition, Iran is also pushing to install Mr Abdullah Abdullah as an alternative to Karzai. Abdullah, a GP, was Karzai’s ex-foreign minister. He has an open anti-Pashtun sectarian agenda. He is representing the Northern Alliance militia.
Karzai’s government remains impotent to stem the country’s hyper-corruption. Many of his cabinet members and odious warlords have built up staggering personal fortunes, including luxury homes in Kabul and multimillion dollar businesses. Karzai’s brothers turned the government into their own playground. Millions in state revenue, foreign aid and drug money goes directly into their coffer. Their obsession is very much like leading characters in Dostoevsky’s The Brothers’ Karamazov, with the exception that the Karamazovs had tried to destroy each other, but Karzais are in close collaboration. On 9 August 2009, The New York Times Magazine had published a 15-page story on the Karzais and their hands in corruption, extortion and drug dealing.
During the past eight years, Western money in the billions that Afghanistan had never seen has gone down the drain. As recently reported by the Times, Karzai pays a notorious warlord, Rashid Dostum, accused of gross human right crimes, $80,000, a month, while the average salary for a state employee is $50 to $100. He was recently reinstated as the Afghan army chief of staff. In the World Bank’s 2008 ‘Doing Business’ report, the efficiency of the Afghanistan justice system was the lowest in the world, below Iraq and Pakistan. Despite spending billions of dollars, the Afghan national army and police force is far from beating the growing insurgency. During my stay in Kabul I noticed a growing unwillingness among the Afghan national army and police to fight. Many told me openly that they will be looking at deserting the minute they find themselves outside Kabul.
As Karzai’s government grows more and more corrupt, the insurgency fills the void, operating in more places than ever. In recent months, the insurgency began to expand well beyond its traditional stronghold in the south and east towards a growing penetration of the north of the country, where its presence was, until last year, minimal.
The president is locked up in his heavily fortified presidential palace and we have seen more of his junkets to the Western capitals than Afghan cities. In the south and east of the country, which have borne the brunt of the war and chaos, Karzai is growing increasingly unpopular, and the country’s long-suffering Pashtuns see him as nothing but a puppet in the hands of the warlords of the Northern-Alliance -- a hodge-podge mix of ex-communists and militia of Afghan ethnic minorities. This has alienated the Pashtuns making them an endless recruitment source and a unifying factor for the Taliban insurgents who are predominantly Pashtuns. In addition, thousands have been streaming into the country from Pakistan to lend a hand to their cousins. More than 40 million Pashtuns are divided by an imaginary and disputed border, Durand Line -- drawn by the British East India Company on November 12, 1893. Historically, Pashtun or Afghans were known as genetically coded with war since Herodotus. ‘With the Afghans,’ Friedr
ich Engels wrote in 1857, ‘war is an excitement and relief from the monotonous occupation of industrial pursuits.’
The recent Anglo-American air and ground operations (Panther’s Claw and Strike of the Sword) in the volatile south of Afghanistan have done little to break the current military stalemate in the country. Instead, these military operations, the biggest since the ousting of the Taliban regime from power in 2001, have increased the insurgents’ steady stream of guerilla attacks, leaving heavy losses on both sides.
Karzai is certainly a problem not a solution anymore. His re-election will likely strengthen the Taliban politically and ideologically and harden their hold over the south and east of the country sooner than many imagine. But all signs, however, indicate he will be re-elected. In the eyes of the Afghans, this would mean that the result of the election is preordained. Powerful and opportunistic warlords are all backing Karzai for they know very well that under Karzai they will be able to continue to romp about in the country.
Despite mounting evidence of Karzai’s warlord problem, there is speculation in Kabul that the Obama administration, unsure of an alternative, is backing his re-election, or making a power-sharing arrangement between Karzai and two other leading contenders. This would mean that a known devil is better than an angel unknown.
The imperative of the moment for the Obama administration is to devise a new policy towards Afghanistan and look beyond Karzai and a warlord-sponsored government. Karzai’s re-election or his inclusion in any settlement will destabilize Afghanistan further and block Western efforts to bring a lasting peace in this country.
Is a changed Karzai just a wishful thought?
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Kandahar blast kills 6 ahead of elections
Press TV August 20, 2009
A blast has left six people killed in the Afghan city of Kandahar as 17 million people are getting ready to vote in the presidential elections.
No group has so far claimed responsibility for the early Thursday attack, a Press TV correspondent reported.
More than 300,000 forces have been deployed to maintain security across the country amid Taliban threats.
Kabul called on local and international media outlets to refrain from reporting violent incidents a day ahead of the crucial presidential elections.
However, Afghan journalists accused the government of violating the constitution by trying to censor reports of violence on Election Day.
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Pakistani Taliban Commander Claims Temporary Leadership of Group
By VOA News 19 August 2009
A top Pakistani Taliban commander says he is temporarily assuming leadership of the militant group because its chief Baitullah Mehsud is unwell.
U.S. and Pakistani officials say they suspect Mehsud was killed earlier this month in a drone missile strike. Taliban commanders have given differing stories on whether he was killed, but Mehsud himself has not been heard from since the strike.
Maulvi Faqir Mohammad says Taliban commanders recently held a meeting because Mehsud is seriously ill, and named him as the new temporary leader.
There have been reports of a struggle over the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, and other commanders have not publicly said if they approve of Mohammad's leadership role.
Pakistan has had some success against militants recently, having captured two top Taliban associates, including senior Mehsud aide Maulvi Omar.
Mehsud is blamed for a wave of suicide attacks in Pakistan over the past two years and is accused of orchestrating the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto in 2007.
Meanwhile, U.S. General David Petraeus is in Pakistan for talks with top military leaders on the army offensive against Islamic extremists.
General Petraeus met with Pakistani army chief Ashfaq Kayani in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, where they discussed closer military cooperation, including future deliveries of U.S. equipment to help Pakistan expand its offensive against the Taliban.
Pakistani troops have largely dislodged Islamic fighters from northwestern Swat Valley and surrounding areas, although the region remains insecure due to sporadic militant violence.
U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke is also in Pakistan, where he met with top officials on Tuesday to urge them to maintain pressure on Islamic extremists based in the country.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and Reuters.
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Indonesia faces a wave of refugees from Afghanistan
Voice of America (VOA) By Solenn Honorine
Puncak Pass, Indonesia, 20 August 2009 - In the past 18 months, hundreds of asylum seekers from Afghanistan have flocked to Indonesia, in the hope of reaching neighboring Australia. But for many, the journey stops in Indonesia, which has not signed the international convention on refugees and does not grant them asylum. Those people are trapped, waiting for another country to accept them.
Refugees detained
Ali made the long and dangerous journey from Afghanistan to Indonesia alone. At age 16, he has few hopes for a bright future.
"I have lost my whole family. It only remains me," he said. "I don't feel secure because my enemies are always telling me 'I will kill you'. I don't feel secure myself. 'Til now."
Life for Afghan refugees in Indonesia is tough. They are considered illegal immigrants and put in detention centers upon arrival.
Ali Ahadi says he has spent months in the Kalideres center in Jakarta, where living conditions are grim. Few visitors are allowed at the center, so over the telephone he describes an unsafe, dirty, overcrowded facility, with inadequate food.
"That's the type of place for people who are transporting opium. Put them there. But you should not put the refugees inside a jail," he said.
About 1,300 Afghan refugees are detained throughout Indonesia, in facilities that are designed to house less than 400 people. The refugees are held until they complete the lengthy process to be recognized as asylum seekers, and then are placed under the care of the United Nations.
A life away from family
Maroloan Barinbing, the spokesman for the Indonesian immigration office, acknowledges that local authorities are overwhelmed by the recent inflow of refugees. But he says the international community should deal with this problem, because the refugees only planned to transit through Indonesia on their way to another country.
Most of the asylum seekers from Afghanistan arrived less than 18 months ago. Most say they left their country because they had no choice: it was either exile or risk being killed by one side or another in the country's war.
In one of the hostels that houses refugees, three men are busy baking a thin, round bread from Afghanistan.
Abdul Hakem, a Shia Muslim, and comes from the Azara ethnic minority, says a year and a half ago, he managed to escape from a Taliban prison, and fled Afghanistan. It was the last time he had any news from his wife and their four children. He says the situation for people like him in Afghanistan is getting worse. "I think about my family every day", he says. "It drives me crazy".
Abdul is not likely to see his family again for some time. His travels are not over: since Indonesia does not grant asylum, he is waiting for a third country to take him in. That could take years.
Ali Reza Noori arrived in Indonesia in 2001. For the past seven years he has had no income except for aid from U.N. agencies. He can not work and has limited freedom of movement. He can only wait. But now he does not regret the making the journey.
"I feel safe here. When I was in Afghanistan, I was always thinking 'What will happen to me?', you know? Actually, I've been very disappointed and also hopeless during these seven years. But I've just been accepted as a refugee, three or four months ago," he said. "And that's a hope for me to get to Australia someday, to continue my real life in there."
Ali says he does not want to imagine what his life will be like once he reaches Australia. He could not bear being disappointed again. It might still be months before he boards a plane, settles somewhere, gets a job, makes plans for the future. He is 25, and his adult life has yet to begin.
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Near-Epidemic of Land and Home Theft
By Lal Aqa Sherin*
KABUL, Aug 20 (IPS) - Afghans are queuing up Thursday to vote in an election that could give President Hamid Karzai a second term. Still, many among them could be wondering if democracy is working for the majority of people.
Far too many Afghan families have been forced from their homes by some of the very government officials whose job is to protect them.
The Ministry of Urban Development (MUD) says that between 1,000 and 1,500 jirib (roughly equal to an acre) of public land where private families reside, have been stolen or usurped by powerful government officials and warlords each day. The ministry says that in all, more than three and-a-half million jirib of these lands have been stolen, a staggering figure.
Yousaf Pashtoon, who oversees MUD, says that these large-scale land grabs are surprisingly simple to carry out for powerful men with guns. "In the beginning" says Pashtoon, "these men usurped the land and then made counterfeit deeds. Now, they make counterfeit deeds first and then according to those deeds, take the land."
Government officials also took advantage of their position and the chaos in the early years of the U.S. occupation. They used their special access to official maps and property ownership records to enrich themselves. "They made counterfeit deeds during the early years of war" says Haidarzada, Herat's director of agriculture and livestock. "But these deeds do not have any basis in law."
Balkh has been a particular target of corrupt officials and powerful men with a taste for other people's property. According to a local official who did not want to be named in this report, residents of the northern province have seen more than 500 jirib of their lands stolen by the wealthy.
Katib Shams, Balkh's director of agriculture, said that much of the land was stolen by commanders and governors during the 1990's and distributed to their supporters. "Many of them did so with counterfeit deeds." Many of them also still hold important positions in government, and according to a Killid source, continue to hold more than 1,000 jirib of land each.
The problem is much more widespread than just Balkh.
Nangarhar seems to have an epidemic of land theft by powerful men. A court there recently found that 18,000 jirib in Muhmandara, 12,000 jirib in Chaparhar, 8,000 jirib in Surkhord, and more than 10,000 jirib in Behsood district were pilfered.
There are cases pending in court, filed by the original landowners, to get these properties back, but the court says that the process will take time. A special commission has also been formed to find which public lands have been stolen, and return them to their rightful owners.
One resident of Behsood district, Nangahar, told Killid, "a local commander has taken more than 50 jirib of public land and built a house and garden there." The resident declined to name the commander, but says that the man is the head of a Nangahar district.
Sadly, the problem of land theft is not a new one for Afghanistan.
Six years ago, government officials in Sherpoor took huge swaths of land and drove the original residents out by force, using bulldozers to demolish the houses. In some cases, residents say, they were still in the homes as the buildings were being destroyed.
At the time, Basir Salangi was a security commander in the area. Under his command, residents say, 30 homes were destroyed.
"We were eating breakfast when we began to feel shaking," says one former resident of Sherpoor. "We thought that it was an earthquake and the walls were going to fall down."
Paim-e-Zan magazine reported at the time that some children were injured during the demolition process.
"These traitors robbed and lied," one woman told the magazine. "They have come to push us from our house. We have been living here for 30 years. Now, they want to build palaces here."
Some of the government officials and strongmen responsible for this theft still hold high positions in Afghan government. Many of them rent out the properties that they stole, further profiting from their misdeeds.
In all, about 120,000 square metres of stolen land in Sherpoor was distributed to ministers, commanders, ministerial deputies, governors and businessmen.
Former Attorney General Abdul Jabar Sabit has taken action against these men, saying that they violated "Article 285 of the legal code and Karzai decree number 377. These people are usurpers of governmental property and should be taken to court.
(*This is the first of a two-part investigative series on property theft in Afghanistan by Killid Weekly. IPS and Killid Media, an independent Afghan group, have been partners since 2004.) (END/2009)
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Stolen Land and Political Power
By Lal Aqa Sherin IPS-Inter Press Service
KABUL, Aug 20 (IPS) - Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission says that in the last seven months they have received 12 complaints about stolen land. The complaints cover the map, ranging from Wardak, Panjsher and Kapisa, to Parwan and Kabul.
Shamasullah Ahmadzai, who sits on the commission, says that these complaints generally don't specifically name the powerful people who took the land because the complainants fear reprisals. "This fact alone paves the way for land-thieves to steal more."
According to the Killid Media War Crimes Project, last year 500 jirib of land (roughly one third an acre) occupied by the Is'haqzi tribe of Sayed Abad district of Saripul, was actually stolen from 50 families that had been forced from the village.
The families say that that Kamal and Hajji Payenda Muhhamad (who is a member of parliament) are behind the land thefts.
Noorullah, a resident of the area, says that he had to leave his village because commander Kamel oppressed his family. "Our whole family was compelled to leave and our lands have been taken."
Like Noorullah, many families decide against turning to the government for help. They say that officials do not offer any real assistance and will dare not take the powerful usurpers to court.
Abdul Wasi Khan, who once owned over 200 jirib of land in Sayed Abad, grieves over all he has lost. "My 200 jirib has been taken and my house was destroyed. What shall I do?" he asked hopelessly. Khan believes President Hamid "Karzai's state is a warlord state and the United States supports these warlords."
Hajji Payenda Muhammad, who represents Saripul in Afghanistan's parliament, told Killid. "The land issue involving the Is'haqzai tribes is not a secret. President Karzai even knows about this. The Is'haqzai's claim to the land is baseless."
Afghanistan's Supreme Court says that it hears hundreds of cases each week that have to do with property theft. But many more Afghans are reluctant to take their problems to government officials, because the authorities offer little by way of assistance.
Forty two-year-old Sherin Aqa fled the country during the years of Moscow's occupation. While he was gone, a commander with a high position in the Soviet-backed government took more than half his property.
Upon Aqa's return he realised it would be difficult to get his property back.
He says that he went to the attorney general for help, but the government's legal representatives did nothing for him.
"I familiarised myself with more than 60 judges at the time, but could not get my property back because of fake deeds and nepotism. Now the property has been sold to developers who have built a large building on the site."
Sixty five-year-old Malim Muhamad Zaman lives near Jalalabad, in Nowabad Village, Kama District. He claims that 30 jirib of his land has been stolen by powerful individuals in the area. He also has a large bundle of documents that he says contain proof of the crime.
"For the last 16 years" says the grizzled old man, "I have claimed the legal deed. The legal deed of the land dates back to 1930, but the sons of Hajji Hassan captured them and claim that the land was an inheritance from their father."
Like Aqa, Zaman claims that he has doggedly pursued his claim with Afghanistan's government and justice system. "I repeatedly appealed to the government," he says. "I showed them the documents, but nobody would listen. My land has three parts and I have the deeds to all three, but still the government would not help me."
Killid attempted to track down the sons of Hajji Hassan, who live in Pakistan. We were unable to reach the men for comment. In court filings, they have repeatedly stated that their father left the land to them.
But Zaman is far from the only Afghan to have his land taken by the sons of powerful men.
Forty-year-old Habibullah says that 240 jirib of land that he and a partner purchased in Surkhord, Nangahar, has been stolen by Hajji Zahir, son of former minister and governor Hajji Abdul Qadeer. "[Zahir] started construction work on a building on the property. There are armed men there, and they mocked me, daring me to take action against them."
Habibullah adds that he bought the land with a legal land deed. "When the owner, a man named Sayed Amir, submitted the documents, the head of the village was present."
When reached by telephone, Amir confirmed that he had in fact sold the land to Habibullah and his partner, Hajji Nader. "The deed that I gave them is evidence," Amir says. "I gave testimony in the presence of all. I will not go back on my testimony, because I gave them a legal deed."
Habibullah says that he and his partner have been arguing the matter with Hajji Zahir for two years. He claims that they have gone to both the police and attorney general, but to no avail.
"We went to the district chief of Surkhrod. The chief said that he couldn't do anything. We went to the police chief. He also said that he couldn't do anything. He told us that since there were armed men working there, we had to turn to 'the highest levels' of government."
Undeterred, Habibullah went to the Jalalabad police commander. "They said that we had to go to Kabul and bring written orders from there. Then the local police would stop the construction on our property."
The struggle to regain what is rightfully his has left Habibullah frustrated and tired. "This is not a secret," he says. Everybody knows that I bought this land under legal deed and he stole it." Still Habibullah and his partner will not give up. "We will keep on forwarding our case to the highest levels."
(This is the second of a two-part investigative series on property theft in Afghanistan by Killid Weekly. IPS and Killid Media, an independent Afghan group, have been partners since 2004.) (END/2009)
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Early Ramadan Raises Health Concerns
August 20, 2009 By Kristin Deasy Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
For the first time in a decade, Muslims will be observing the holy month of Ramadan in what will be the peak of summer in the Northern Hemisphere.
The timing has prompted concerns over how Muslim believers can deal with sunrise-to-sunset food and water abstention, while maintaining their health.
"From the medical point of view, Ramadan has many good points, but also for the people with certain health problems, it might be not so good," says Kyrgyz physician Ramis Usenbekov. "Also, the current hot weather is a big issue. In hot weather, the body dehydrates quickly, and it is necessary to get liquids frequently in this kind of heat."
Ramadan is tied to the lunar cycle and starts on August 20 in many Central Asian countries, although various Islamic sects and practices in different countries dictate different starting days. For example, Ramadan starts August 21 in Iran and Lebanon, but August 22 in the United States.
"We know that the temperature is a little bit high, and the day is much longer than last year," says Dr. Ali bin Shakar, director of the United Arab Emirates' Health Ministry. "So that's why we are concentrated on health education, how to deal with this time."
Shakar mentions "outdoor exposure, indoor exposure -- even what kind of food to take before fasting, how to start, and how to break your fast after that."
'Reasonable Way'
Kazan-based doctor Ildar Tukhvatullin explains that breaking the fast correctly can be critical, given that the longer days of summer will push that hour back considerably.
"During 'iftar' [evening] and 'sakhar' [morning], people have their meal. If they do it in a reasonable way -- don't overeat or eat anything irritating their stomach -- then fasting will be good for them," he says.
"It is important to have plenty of food containing carbohydrates -- that is, dried fruit, dates and figs, poultry, fish, dairy products. All of them are light and easily digested. Gas-forming products and water with gas should be excluded from the meal."
Afghan Mullah Mustafa Fedai stresses that Islam does make exceptions for health conditions.
"Islam wants convenience and health for its followers," Fedai says. "In a specific situation, such as if someone is going to lose consciousness and cannot continue fasting, the holy Koran makes clear that Islam allows people to eat. One verse says that exceptions can be made in cases of extreme need."
Tatar cleric Ildus Faiz points out the exception for the sick and tells RFE/RL that the point of fasting is holiness, not health.
" 'Uraza' [fasting] is not for getting healthier. People should know this. Sick people who think they will get better while fasting are mistaken," he says. "This shouldn't be the goal."
'Commit A Sin'
Iraqi cleric Ali al-Jubouri explains the travel exception, and cautions that while sickness exempts followers from fasting, faking illness is unacceptable.
"God says travelers and those who are ill are free from the fasting during Ramadan," Jubouri says. "But those who fake illness so they don't have to fast will have to fast at a later time, and they commit a sin."
Amid the heat of summer, fasting ethics have become a flashpoint this year. In Italy, for example, Muslim agriculture workers have been threatened with suspension if they refuse to drink liquids during the hotter parts of the day.
Speaking from Germany, Afghan Dr. Akram Malikzi says more could be done to help day laborers struggling to maintain their fast.
"In this holy month, if people follow the Islamic fasting rules, it is good for health and will not have a bad effect," Malikzi says.
"Regarding impoverished people who have to work in hot weather, it is clear that every human being loses a lot of liquid and minerals by sweating. If they continue to work in such hot weather, they will definitely they become dehydrated. But if they don't work, what will they eat, and who will support their children? I have a suggestion to the wealthy people in the government: help support these families," he said.
A shorter workday is informally kept during Ramadan in many Muslim countries.
Health concerns are compounded this year by the emergence of swine flu, a global pandemic. Ramadan is traditionally a popular month for followers of Islam to observe the hajj, a journey to the holy city of Mecca, in Saudi Arabia.
The country issued a swine flu alert in July and announced that it will block visas from chronically ill pilgrims, as well as those over 65 or under 12 years old, to help prevent the spread of illness. More than 3 million pilgrims from 160-plus countries travel to Mecca each year.
The World Health Organization announced recently that 50 percent of Iran's 144 swine flu cases have come from Saudi Arabia, and a young Egyptian woman died July 19 after contracting swine flu during a pilgrimage to Mecca. Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, and Egypt have imposed restrictions -- or outright bans -- on the pilgrimage.
RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir, Iraq, Afghan, and Kyrgyz services contributed to this report.
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