Key to runoff election in Afghanistan is safety

Key to runoff election in Afghanistan is safety

Now that Afghanistan’s president, Hamid Karzai, and his chief political rival, Abdullah Abdullah, have agreed to participate in a run-off election on Nov. 7, the question the United Nations must ponder is this: How do you assure voters in regions of the country overrun by the Taliban that they won’t be risking life or limb by going to the polls?

It’s a question based on the experiences of many Afghans who participated in the election of Aug. 20. According to Abdullah, a wave of terrorist attacks killed dozens. In some areas, Islamic militants, determined to turn back the political clock in that war-ravaged country, cut off the ink-marked fingers of people who had voted.

Voters “are taking a risk in some parts of the country and they should be confident that the risk is worthwhile,” Abdullah told the Associated Press. “I would like to see that our people are participating without an environment and atmosphere of fear and intimidation.”

Past and future

A tall order, indeed, but one the U.N., the United States and other nations must address. After all, the people of Afghanistan have been told that free and fair elections are the only path to political, social and economic empowerment. They well remember the era of the Taliban, which ruled according to Islamic law and literally kept the country in the Stone Age.

Indeed, the ouster of the Taliban rulers by coalition forces, led by the U.S. in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America’s mainland, led to Karzai becoming president.

However, his administration has been rocked by allegations of widespread corruption and incompetence. The emergence of Abdullah as a formidable opponent is proof of the president’s withering support.

The Aug. 20 election has fed the perception that things aren’t right in Afghanistan. Amid reports of large-scale voter fraud, a U.N.-backed panel spent the past two months investigating the claims and concluded that 1.3 million votes cast for Karzai had to be discarded. The result was that the president was left with 48 percent of the vote, 2 percent less than what he needed to avoid a runoff.

Change of heart

He initially said he had no intention of accepting the findings of the U.N. review, but last week after much arm-twisting by the Obama administration and particularly by U.S. Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who was in Afghanistan for several days, Karzai agreed to participate in the Nov. 7 election.

There isn’t much time for the U.N., the U.S. and others to develop strategies to ensure the safety of the voters.

It is clear that the Taliban militants, who have been making inroads in many of the far-off provinces, do not want democracy to take hold. They see the return of theocratic government as the only option for the impoverished, backward country.

But the willingness of Karzai and Abdullah to follow the letter of the law with regard to elections is extremely important from a credibility standpoint. It shows that the rule by force is a thing of the past.

President Obama, who is involved in intense discussions with his top military and civilian advisers and others about sending more troops to Afghanistan, was right when he said that the runoff election is about legitimacy in governance.