by Patrick Basham
This article appeared on Cato.org on August 20, 2009.
Afghanistan's presidential campaign confirms that Western leaders cannot push Afghan political culture where it doesn't want to go. Today, Afghan democrats could hold a convention in a phone booth.
Although Afghanistan's first presidential (2004) and parliamentary elections (2005) were held in an atmosphere of widespread fear and massive voter intimidation, the international community characterized these elections as watershed moments for Afghan democracy. Events on the ground continue to suggest otherwise. According to the UN, Afghan civilian deaths soared by 24 percent during the first half of 2009. Fears for voter safety on Election Day will shut 10 percent of nearly 7,000 polling stations nationwide.
The country's security situation requires 63,000 U.S. troops and 40,500 non-U.S. NATO forces to protect what many consider a rigged election. The UN and the Afghan human rights commission have repeatedly complained about interference in the election by President Hamid Karzai's government.
The most obvious institutional problem is that the election commission is stacked with Karzai's supporters. It's also an open secret that Karzai's campaign has registered three million 'new' voters — swelling the electorate by 17 percent — by allowing males to obtain registration cards for non-existent female relatives.
In Afghan-style elections, campaigning politicians are permitted to broadcast threats against their opponents. On the campaign trail, moderate presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister popular with Afghans in America, is literally a marked man whose advertisements are mysteriously destroyed as soon as they appear on billboards.
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