Afghanistan’s agents of anarchy were unable to stop millions of Afghanis from going to the polls last week. As leader of the International Republican Institute’s (IRI) election observer mission, it was my honor and privilege to witness brave Afghani men and women defy rising violence, threats, and other intimidations to vote for a better future.
Afghanistan has been at war for 30 years. Eight years after the fall of the Taliban, the situation in Afghanistan remains dire. Insurgent attacks are up. Coalition forces have increasing casualties. Opium trade and warlords are robust. The Taliban is expanding. Areas of the country are ungovernable. And a culture of corruption permeates the government.
Understandably, many Afghanis are disillusioned and cynical. Unbridled optimism unleashed by the fall of the Taliban characterized Afghanistan’s 2004 presidential election, the first in its history. I also was in Afghanistan then and witnessed the long lines and festive spirit at that vote, especially by the women who seemed to be breaking the shackles of the Taliban’s extreme and rigid rule. Eight million Afghanis went to the polls in the cities, the countryside, and rugged remote mountain areas. They celebrated their new freedom and seemed to feel they were making the world anew. But democracy is difficult in the best of circumstances and nearly impossible in an environment of grave insecurity.
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