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High turnout in landmark Afghan elections

Rainman05

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http://www.dw.de/high-turnout-in-landmark-afghan-elections/a-17546471

Despite threats from the Taliban, Afghans lined up for hours in front of polling stations on April 5 to elect a new president. Estimates put voter turnout at 58 percent, with many women said to have cast their ballots.
Haji Gul Agha had waited for hours to cast his vote. "Even if cartridges had rained and the ground had been filled with mines, we would still have come out to vote," the 60-year-old said cheerfully. This view was shared by Ghulam Sakhi, who was proud of being able to vote. "Today was a historic day for Afghanistan, everyone was expected to take part in the elections," said Sakhi, who, in order to exercise his right to vote, had taken a long walk to the polling station in the central Afghan province of Ghazni.
The radical Islamist Taliban had repeatedly threatened to sabotage the poll. But even highly volatile regions such as Helmand Province remained peaceful on election day. One voter, Meena Gul, proudly showed off her finger stained with indelible ink, which is used to prevent people from voting more than once.
"I'm so happy," she said. "The security situation was good today; we weren't scared. I am very excited and pleased that women are allowed to take part in the poll."
"I don't care about the candidate's origin, ethnicity or language. I voted for the candidate with the best electoral campaign," said Ghulam Sakhi, who walked five kilometers to cast his vote.
About a third of Afghanistan's population is under 25 years of age. Many young Afghans, who hope for a fair electoral process, would be very disappointed to find any signs of massive electoral fraud like during the 2009 poll.

Even for the most cynical, this is quite some progress. I mean the fact that women are allowed to vote makes Afghanistan better off than quite a lot of islamic countries, despite being one of the poorest countries. Afghanistan hasn't seen peace for almost half a century.

So yeah. The people who went to vote were pretty brave because the talibans aren't joking around. There is voting in sharia and they won't be happy until they rot Afghanistan back to the bronze age. So everyone who went to vote painted a big target on their back in hopes that tomorrow will be a better day.

Realistically speaking, I'm sure there will be quite a lot of fraud and not much change... but as long as the people are still free to vote there is hope. Hope there wouldn't exist under the taliban enforced sharia. And hope is worth painting a big target on your back.
 
High turnout in landmark Afghan elections | Asia | DW.DE | 05.04.2014


Even for the most cynical, this is quite some progress. I mean the fact that women are allowed to vote makes Afghanistan better off than quite a lot of islamic countries, despite being one of the poorest countries. Afghanistan hasn't seen peace for almost half a century.

So yeah. The people who went to vote were pretty brave because the talibans aren't joking around. There is voting in sharia and they won't be happy until they rot Afghanistan back to the bronze age. So everyone who went to vote painted a big target on their back in hopes that tomorrow will be a better day.

Realistically speaking, I'm sure there will be quite a lot of fraud and not much change... but as long as the people are still free to vote there is hope. Hope there wouldn't exist under the taliban enforced sharia. And hope is worth painting a big target on your back.


So now trouble at all huh? All that talk by the Taliban and they don't bit or bop. Despite Killing the Female German Photographer and the Female Canadian Reporter. Kathy Gannon yesterday. I threw that up I the other Afghan thread that was up. Thought some of our Canadian members would have jumped on that.

As the Taliban was going after the Press. Plus a couple of these candidates.

Problem now is Team O has played the waiting game.....since Karzai wouldn't sign the agreement. So more than likely he will get it signed now. As all these candidates had come out and said they would sign with us. They want that money too.
 
Yeah, even the cynical have to admit that many people don't vote even without the risk of being murdered for doing so. Kudos to them.
 
a successful election sure . A successful government that isn't overthrown requires constant money and security support from the west, and that is mostly the US.
The old Afghani adage "you got the watches we got the time" is worth recalling. the Taliban aren't going to just accept this.

10-20 years from now what are the chances the Afghan army won't disband along tribal lines? If the army can propel nationalism, then this might stick,
but Afghanistan isn't much of a nation state.


Sure, this is a good day, my problem is the US is tied to keeping this 'country' from an inevitable slide back to it's historical ways of fractured, decentralized power.
we have to babysit this country for decades, in hopes it grows up . It's not worth the price we paid, it's not worth any further blood and treasure
 
I mean the fact that women are allowed to vote makes Afghanistan better off than quite a lot of islamic countries, despite being one of the poorest countries.

And they do so in private, able to express their true beliefs without the oppression of a husband or other authority figure looking upon them.

When they get home, they can lie and remain safe from persecution.
 
And here in Apethyville, America voter turn out is among the most disgraceful in the voting world. Hope China mows us down with tanks.
 
a successful election sure . A successful government that isn't overthrown requires constant money and security support from the west, and that is mostly the US.
The old Afghani adage "you got the watches we got the time" is worth recalling. the Taliban aren't going to just accept this.

10-20 years from now what are the chances the Afghan army won't disband along tribal lines? If the army can propel nationalism, then this might stick,
but Afghanistan isn't much of a nation state.


Sure, this is a good day, my problem is the US is tied to keeping this 'country' from an inevitable slide back to it's historical ways of fractured, decentralized power.
we have to babysit this country for decades, in hopes it grows up . It's not worth the price we paid, it's not worth any further blood and treasure



When Bush went to war, as a member of the Viet nam generation, I was hesitant, but hopeful that his vision was not a predestined failure.

The proposal was that planting one democracy in the area would provide the hope for the surrounding populations that democracy could work there and would spread from country to country. Bush's belief at the time was that men loved the notion of self governance and given the taste of it would vigorously support it.

This was obviously wrong. The Arabs and especially the Muslim Arabs are not equipped to conduct self government. They long for a top down, religion driven government that is authoritarian and non-democratic.

When the Americans leave, they will shortly return to the normal Arab Democracy which is One Man, One Vote, One Time.

There is not a human being or a country between Jordan and Afghanistan that is worth one drop of American blood.
 
This has some correlation to the Elections that have taken place in Afghanistan. How do you think this affects things going forward?



The Taliban’s Shadow Invasion

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In the last month, the Taliban has killed dozens of people in a string of attacks timed to destabilize the country ahead of the presidential elections on Saturday.

Most recently, a suicide bomber breached the heavy security at the Interior Ministry building and blew himself up, killing six police officers. And that may be just a preview, if local Taliban commanders are to be believed.

But the real accelerators of this violence aren’t Shakor and his fellow Afghanistan-based militants, local intelligence and security officials tell The Daily Beast. Instead, it’s Taliban insurgents streaming over the border from Pakistan that have enabled the group’s recent killing spree in Kabul. And they say the Pakistani government is to blame for the incursion.

By increasing violence ahead of the election, the Taliban is trying to discourage voting and convince Afghans that the government is incapable of providing security. It’s a tactic the Taliban has used in the past before big political events, but this time to pull off its plan the group used some shrewd foreign diplomacy.

There are, broadly speaking, two Talibans, one in Afghanistan and one in Pakistan. The two groups operate semi-autonomously but both fall under the leadership of the Quetta Shura leadership council. And major moves, like this ceasefire, would undoubtedly be blessed by the Quetta Shura.

Last week, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief, Rahmatullah Nable, told parliament that he had confirmed reports that the Taliban arranged for madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan to close down months earlier than the usual summer holiday so students could go fight in Afghanistan.

This is a critical moment for Afghanistan. The country will elect a new leader for the first time since Hamid Karzai became president in 2001. The vast majority, if not all, American and NATO forces, will leave the country by years end. The Taliban are mustering everything they can to prove that after 13 years of war they’re still a powerful force in Afghanistan, and that the elected government is incapable of securing the country.

For years, Western militaries have tried to train and equip a series of local paramilitary forces to keep Afghanistan from cracking once NATO leaves. Shakor, the Taliban commander, admitted those paramilitaries would be tough to dislodge. But he insisted that they are next on the militants’ target list, nevertheless.....snip~

The Taliban
 
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