"Fears rise on eve of Afghan elections; Abductions, attack precede vote today" by Ernesto Londono, Washington Post | September 18, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — Insurgents have kidnapped a parliamentary candidate and at least 18 election workers, Afghan officials said yesterday, raising fears on the eve of an election that has emerged as a test of wills between the Afghan government and the Taliban.
I noted an expletive in the column of my newspaper; however, I will spare you today.
Insurgent leaders have warned voters to refrain from voting in today’s election, the third major vote in Afghanistan’s short and troubled history as a democracy. They have declared candidates and campaign workers legitimate targets for assassination and have threatened to cut voters’ ink-stained fingers.
Police said a rocket struck Kabul just hours before citizens planned to head to the polls. Police Officer Abdul Manan confirmed the pre-dawn attack today — an apparent warning shot from insurgents....
The Taliban have written threats on leaflets passed out at mosques, whispered them in villages and posted Internet messages saying those who cast ball
???? Same as my printed paper. Ooops.
Amid a spike in violence and deepening skepticism in the United States and NATO capitals about the strategy in Afghanistan, the vote will be a key test for the Afghan government after last year’s fraud-plagued presidential election.
Since his reelection last year, President Hamid Karzai has faced growing criticism at home and abroad over rising insecurity and rampant corruption in all layers of government.
The stakes are high for the United States, which is attempting to persuade Afghans to back their government despite deepening doubts about whether the state will hold as the US-led international force begins to thin out next year.
Whatever.
Karzai made a last appeal to voters yesterday, asking that they “vote from their hearts.’’ Speaking at a press conference, the president urged Taliban members to vote, saying: “They should serve their country and participate.’’
That's because they did last time -- "There were even reports of local Taliban members encouraging people to register and support them at the polls" -- and they got fraud.
The Afghan government and NATO are mobilizing 400,000 soldiers and police officers to guard polling stations and roads - an unprecedented show of force.
If that is true how the hell are we losing?
Related: Boston Globe Censorship: Troops Outnumber Taliban
If we can't defeat them how are we going to "win" against Iran?
The Taliban and the Afghan government have launched competing propaganda campaigns.
I'm reading one right now.
The Taliban speaks of a puppet government and warns that the outcome of the election will have been preordained by the United States.
I can't imagine why they would think that.
The Afghan government, meanwhile, asked reporters this week to use their media to encourage people to vote and urged journalists to gloss over violence and other problems on Election Day.
The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, one of the country’s main election monitors, has called this election season the most violent since the Taliban regime was toppled in 2001.
We call it progress.
The 19 reported kidnappings Thursday and yesterday were the latest in a string of events that have soured voters’ mood....
The Afghans sound just like us over here.
And look what stepped out from behind the curtain:
An Afghan police officer kept watch at a polling station in Jalalabad yesterday. The Taliban launched a series of deadly attacks during the parliamentary election, which is considered a crucial test for the government and security forces. (Parwiz/ Reuters)
I'm sorry I am not offended by their dress and customs, and sorry I do not want to liberate them by destroying them, their families, and their villages with our air strikes and raids.
I really don't know what else to say anymore when it comes to veil and all; I know they have destroyed western civilization and are the cause of ll your problems (not those looting bankers funding both sides of wars since forever).
"Afghan vote marred by deadly attacks, fraud reports; Bombings, gunfire kill 14; Fewer voters than last year" by David Nakamura and Ernesto Londono, Washington Post | September 19, 2010
KABUL — There were “widespread irregularities’’ but no evidence of “massive fraud’’ in Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections, the chief UN envoy here said last evening....
In other words, just accept what we say.
Staffan de Mistura said it would take days to ascertain the scope of fraud that took place, particularly in insecure rural areas that have been trouble spots in past elections.
Late yesterday, Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told reporters that insurgents had carried out attacks in 17 of the country’s 34 provinces throughout the day.
The attacks killed at least 11 civilians and three police officers, authorities said, and wounded 45 civilians and 13 police officers....
Security forces set up extra checkpoints throughout cities, and voters were frisked at polling stations. Yesterday morning, officials reported one rocket attack in Kabul, one in Baghlan Province in the north, and six in Nangahar Province in the east.
In the southeastern province of Kandahar, one of the country’s most dangerous areas, Governor Toryali Wesa was on his way to inspect three polling centers in the Dand district when his convoy struck a roadside bomb hidden in garbage, spokesman Zalmay Ayoubi said. No one was injured and the governor proceeded to the centers, he added.
I'm beginning to smell something myself.
He said security forces also discovered about 10 explosive devices hidden throughout the province and detonated them through controlled explosions.
You know, the same kind of thing that brought down three WTC towers into their own footprint and turned them into dust.
In Sarobi, a small village along the winding, mountainous road that connects Kabul to Jalalabad, voters arrived in packed cars and vans covered with campaign posters.
So turnout was high?
The incumbent lawmaker in the district, Mohamed Sangin Tawalkzai, said threats from insurgents did not appear to be keeping constituents from voting.
Who threatens their neighbor over an election?
Related: Insurgents vs. Incumbents
Oh, yeah.
Tawalkzai said he understood why some voters were frustrated with the outgoing parliament, which accomplished little.
Do they really?
--more--"
"Monitors fuel doubts on Afghan vote; Karzai praises election amid reports of fraud" by Heidi Vogt, Associated Press | September 20, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — The main Afghan election observer group said yesterday that it had serious concerns about the legitimacy of this weekend’s parliamentary vote because of reported fraud, even as President Hamid Karzai commended the balloting as a solid success.
Not again!! Happens EVERY ELECTION (even here in AmeriKa).
The conflicting statements underscored the difficulty of determining the credibility of the vote, which was also hit by militant attacks that hurt the turnout....
See why I don't know what the f*** to believe anymore?
Although the first vote counts are due to be made public in a few days, full preliminary results are not expected until early October, and then there will be weeks of fraud investigations before winners are officially announced....
At least 21 civilians and nine police officers were killed during the voting, according to the Election Commission and the Interior Ministry, amid dozens of bombings and rocket attacks. In addition, two poll workers were kidnapped in northern Balkh Province and their bodies were discovered yesterday, Fazel Ahmad Manawi, Afghan Election Commission chairman, told reporters....
The head of the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, stressed how difficult it is to hold an election in a war zone like Afghanistan and said the Afghan government should be praised for getting people out to vote at all....
Sigh. Yeah, what a success. Sort of makes the whole thing worth it after all.
If Afghans don’t accept the results of the vote, it could have a profound effect both inside the country and with Afghanistan’s international backers, who have 140,000 troops in the country and have spent billions trying to shore up Karzai’s administration.
Yeah, fraud can be committed but it will be the citizens fault if they don't accept lies. That's AmeriKan liberation!!!
--more--"
KABUL, Afghanistan --Afghan authorities said it was too early to judge the validity of the country's parliamentary ballot despite observers' reports of widespread fraud in the vote that was to help consolidate its shaky democracy.
Also Monday, Britain's military handed the U.S. responsibility for a dangerous district in southern Afghanistan that has been the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting involving British troops for the past four years....
Expect more dead Americans returning.
British forces arrived in the district in 2006 and have lost more than 100 troops there in fierce fighting with Taliban insurgents-- nearly a third of the 337 fatalities it has suffered in Afghanistan since 2001.
How long you guys gonna stay? Five more years, huh?
NATO said the 40 Commando Royal Marines were being reassigned throughout the center of Helmand, which remains a volatile battleground even though tens of thousands of NATO and Afghan troops moved into the area in February....
Maybe it is that way because of the invaders, 'eh?
Despite Taliban rocket strikes and bombings, Afghans voted on Saturday for a new parliament, the first election since a fraud-tainted presidential ballot last year that cast doubt on the legitimacy of the embattled government....
Yeah, so now everything is great.
The independent Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan, the observer group that deployed about 7,000 observers to monitor the elections, urged President Hamid Karzai's government to allow an independent investigation into reports of widespread electoral fraud, including intimidation of voters and interference by powerful warlords.
See: Slow Saturday Special: AmeriKa's Mass Grave in Afghanistan
The warlords are all our guys. That's why there isn't much of a fuss.
The state electoral commission, however, criticized observer groups and the media for being "quick to imply the electoral process is unsuccessful based on allegations of fraud and misconduct."
*********A repeat of the pervasive fraud at the presidential election a year ago would further erode the standing of Karzai's administration -- both at home and abroad -- as it struggles against a Taliban insurgency.
As if it had any.
Officials said militant attacks on election day killed at least 21 civilians and nine police officers.
The Washington-based National Democratic Institute said in a statement Monday that although violence marred the electoral process, "millions of Afghans turned out to vote ... showing courage and resolve to move their nation toward a more democratic future."
I'm really tired of the propaganda, how about you?
But the group also pointed out that many problems still have not been addressed. These include "a defective voter registration process, barriers to women's participation, and the need to secure the independence from the executive of Afghanistan's two election bodies."
What?
I thought that was like the main reason we are there now.
********
Nader Nadery, the head of the Afghan observer group, said one of its major concerns was more than 300 instances of intimidation and coercion of voters by local warlords and powerbrokers -- some with close ties to Karzai's government -- who are seeking to remain in power by having their own candidates run in the elections.
Haven't heard or seen the U.S. complaining much.
"We had more than 280 cases of direct attacks by the insurgents and we also had 157 cases of warlords committing violence," Nadery said....
Under the new NATO deployment plan, which was announced in July, the U.S. will operate mainly in the north and south of Helmand, with British, Danish and Estonian troops working in the heavily populated central areas.
The coalition also reported that an international service member died Monday following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan. The service member's nationality was not released.
You SEE HOW IMPORTANT that is to the WAR-PROMOTING CORPORATE MEDIA, 'eh?
--more--"
Related: Afghanistan opposition hopeful after elections (By Rod Nordland, New York Times)
Sorry, readers, you can count that box.
