Afghanistan has been a real victim of world powers’ short-term strategies that are often devised against their own earlier strategies. The newest strategy that the United States is working on is to bypass the central government in Afghanistan and directly support the Pashtun tribes to fight against the Taliban. According to a New York Times report, as a first step towards this end, the U.S. is going to support the Shinwari tribe in eastern Afghanistan. ‘In exchange for their [the tribesmen’s] support, American government agreed to channel $1 million in development projects directly to the tribal leaders and bypass the local Afghan government, which is widely seen as corrupt.’

For Afghans, this ‘corrupt government’ had full support of the entire international community for last eight years. A remarkable majority of the Afghans now question that if this government was so corrupt, why the U.S. and the international community let it run during all these years. Until now, everybody spoke about democracy, human rights, civil society, stabilizing the government, and capacity building. But suddenly, the track changed and now every prime minister, every president, every ambassador, every military commander, and every civilian expert speaks about reconciliation with the Taliban, bypassing the central government, and supporting the tribes. Now they see the solution in the centuries old corrupt and outdated tribal system that will now fight against the Taliban but eventually will turn into uncontrollable militias and then? the international community will undoubtedly devise another strategy to get rid of them.

It is true that this tribal system worked 30-40 years ago, but its authority and function was undermined by a same strategy that was also devised by the U.S. and Pakistan in which a new generation of the Afghan youths was encouraged to follow the jihadi leaders, well-trained and well-paid by the U.S., instead of the tribal elders. According to another New York Times report, at that time, ‘the United States, backed by the Saudi and Pakistani governments, unleashed its own assault on Afghanistan’s tribes. American-backed Wahhabi fundamentalism created hundreds of thousands of young mujahedeen (holy warriors) to attack Soviet troops in Afghanistan. Religiously indoctrinated and flush with American cash, these young Afghan fighters viewed Muslim clerics and mujahedeen commanders – not tribal elders – as their true leaders.’

Eventually the Soviet troops withdrew, but the tribal elders and system continued to suffer as the country descended into a new era of warlordism that annihilated every value of the Afghan society. The Taliban emerged as a result of that warlordism but further expanded the fight against tribal values. More recently, hundreds of tribal elders in the tribal areas as well as in Afghanistan and Pakistan were murdered in a series of target killings because they were believed to be supporters of the governments. Particularly in the tribal areas, many tribal jirgas and gatherings were targeted by suicide attacks in recent months.

The New York Times report correctly said that: ‘Some Afghans warn that the tribal system is not a panacea and fear that the United States is adopting a quick-fix approach that will not create long-term stability. They see the tribes inherently anachronistic, sexist and corrupt – a system that further undermines the already extraordinarily difficult task of creating multi-ethnic, merit-based institutions. They warn that the country would be thrown into the hands of myriad tribal militias that the central government could never control.’

So, instead of short-term and quick-fix strategies that create more problems in the long run, there should be a long-time commitment for stabilizing the government, promoting democratic values, human rights and civil society, reducing poverty, and working for capacity building in Afghanistan. That is the only way to a long-time solution in this war-torn country.

By Abdulhadi Hairan

August 18

• The government requested all media organizations not to report violent acts so the voters go to polling centers less fearful. I have decided to respect the request. I have the opinion that by excessive and unnecessary coverage, the media has been playing a role in promoting violence and terrorism in this region. Pajhwok Afghan News, Afghanistan’s leading news agency, however, rejected the request and vowed to continue reporting anything happens in the country. This is a sheer indifference to the situation the country and its people have been facing. The agency called this indifference ‘truth and national interests.’
• PAN reports: Militants killed a provincial council candidate, Mullah Abdul Rahim, in northern Jwazjan province. Some people think that if the voters were sure that warlords were not going to win the election, the situation would be much different in terms of violence and security.
• While a suicide car attack near Pul-e-Charkhi area of Kabulkilled 10 and wounded more than 50, an ISAF soldier and UN workers among casualties, officials confirmed, different rumors about the election are being circulated in Kabul and across the country. There are rumors that a female presidential candidate, Shehla Atta, is missing, possibly abducted or murdered. There is another rumor that President Karzai has offered Dr. Ashraf Ghani a high position in the government if he withdrew. And there is rumor that the election is going to be postponed. Fear and rumors occupy the streets and villages.
• AP reports: The Nato-led forces will halt offensive operations during election process.
• First suicide attack on a polling station: a suicide bomber blew himself up near a polling station in Chora district of southern Oruzgan province, killing 4 ANA soldiers who were guarding the polling center and two civilians. The insurgents have launched an all-out campaign to disrupt the polling which is due in two days.
• An investigation by the BBC has found evidence of fraud and corruption in Afghanistan’s presidential election. Thousands of voting cards have been offered for sale and thousands of dollars offered in bribes to buy votes.

 August 17

• Five less known candidates withdrew from the race in favor of the incumbent Karzai. They are Hedayat Amin Arsala, Shah Mahmood Popal, Dr. Naseer Anis, Mohammad Yasin Sapai, and Hakim Torsan. The President has obviously promised them that they will be adjusted them somewhere in the government if he won the race. Mr. Karzai has to adjust a lot of warlords, former and current jihadi commanders and tribal elders in the government if he made it to the throne for another term. It will really turn our country into ‘a tribal democracy.’

• Taand.com Pashto website reports: Officials in the eastern Kunar province did not allow supporters of presidential candidate Mirwais Yasini to hold a meeting. The websites quoted a spokesman of Mr. Yasini’s election campaign in the province as saying: ‘We were eventually able to hold the meeting after a lot of efforts. The officials disrupted our gathering.’ He claimed that around 3000 tribal elders and local supporter of Mr. Yasini were participating in the meeting.

• PAN Pashto reports: Taliban threatened to close the schools used as polling centers. They got another pretext to attack on educational centers which will result in keeping the population ignorant and uneducated. This seems a war against education and democracy at the same time.

• The Defence Ministry arrested supporters of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah for airdropping election campaign posters from two helicopters, said a press release issued by the ministry. They airdropped the pamphlets in prohibited areas of Kabul city – the presidential palace and the Ministry of Defence. Was he inviting workers of the presidential palace to vote for him?

• The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan announced that the election campaign will end on 12:00 AM Afghanistan time today. The candidates and their campaigners are asked to respect the rules and stop their campaigns after that time.

• BBC asked people in Afghanistan what they would do if they were president of Afghanistan. None of them have said what they would do with the insurgency.

• PAN Pashto reports: The Association of Bakers in Kabul city campaign for Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. They have distributed 12,000 campaign posters to garner votes for him.

• Extraordinary security measures are implemented in Kabul city in order to secure the two highly important events – Afghanistan’s 90^th Independence Day on August 19, and the upcoming presidential election on 20.

August 16

• Warlord Gen. Rashid Dostum returned to Afghanistan to make security arrangements for the election. People think he is back ‘to secure’ the north for Karzai.

• Hamid Karzai, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Ramazan Bashardost outlined their priorities in the election debate arranged by RTA and Radio Free Europe. The debate was unexpectedly friendly.

• Walls in Kabul have been chalked overnight with ‘Karzai government is a failure,’ ‘Death to Karzai,’ ‘Karzai+mafia,’ ‘Don’t vote for Karzai.’ It is not clear who did the chalking.

• 500 women voiced their support for the incumbent Hamid Karzai in the western Nimroz province in the August 20 election. Also hundreds of men from the same province praised achievement of Karzai government and said they will vote for him.

• PAN Pashto reports: Taliban took away thousands of voter cards from voters in Gilan district of eastern Ghazni province. To protect people from suffering at the hands of insurgents, the government and election commission should have allowed them to vote after showing their tazkiras (national identity cards) only.

August 15

• While 2000 tribesmen promised to guard the polls in the three southeastern provinces – Khost, Paktia, and Paktika -, militants killed 5 election campaigners in one of them – Paktika. There will be yet more sacrifices for the democracy in the country.

• Sima Samar, head of the Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan, has rightly told LA Times: ‘There’s been no strong debate over women’s rights in this election; it’s just not a priority. None of the major candidates speaks very boldly on the subjects. It has faded into the background.’ And that is why female candidates campaign in burqas.

• Taliban threatened to chop off voters’ fingers. It seems their leadership shura has eventually added this (chopping off fingers for votes) as a new sharia law to the law of cutting off a hand for stealing.

• Dr. Ashraf Ghani was first among the contenders to visit Zabul, the troubled southern province. He alleged that other southern provinces – Kandahar, Helmand, Oruzgan… – were ‘bought’ by Karzai’s campaigners.

• Huge suicide bomb explosion rocked Kabul city just one hour ago. There are different reports about casualties. But some say at least 6 ISAF soldiers were killed. Eyewitnesses saw wounded people being shifted to hospitals. This kind of attacks will affect the election process badly.

August 14

• People protest in eastern Nuristan province against the Election Commission. They complained that they were not issued voter cards. Police killed two of them. Means that only Taliban were not responsible for the feared unrest before the election.

• Pajhwok Afghan News reports that US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, is due in Kabul next week to monitor the polls. Good news!

August 13

• AFP reports that ‘fear of Iran-style unrest grips Afghanistan,’ and that is because, according to timesonline.co.uk, ‘President Karzai’s supporters ‘buy’ votes for Afghanistan election. An Afghan, who is educated in the United States, when I asked about his reaction, said: ‘I will be the first to protest if Karzai won the election.’ Some think it was better Mr. Karzai gave up voluntarily.

• Just back from the inauguration ceremony of Dr. Ashraf Ghani’s new book titled ‘Da A’adilana Nizam Laar (Path to the Just Order)’ which discusses his plans for effective governance, active economy, social development, international cooperation and law and order in Afghanistan. He is one of the main rivals of the incumbent Karzai in the ongoing presidential race. The nearly 300-pages book is published in Pashto, Dari and Uzbaki languages.

• Me to the taxi driver: Whom will you vote for?

Taxi driver: Me? I don’t have the vote card.

Me: Why did not you get one?

Taxi driver: I am a poor taxi driver. I could not spare the time to go to a registration office and get the voter card. I got my tazkira (Afghan national identity card) after three days efforts. Why another card is necessary for vote if I have a tazkira? And what difference my vote can bring? It is the same after Obama became president of the United States. And it will be the same after the August 20 election.

August 12

• In Kandahar, Dr. Abdullah said he will reconcile and negotiate with the militants if he won the August 20 election and became president of the country. When talking in Kabul, the argument is to eliminate them, when in Kandahar, the tone changes and it comes to talks. Interesting!

• Militants abducted Dr. Abdullah’s election campaign head in the western Badghis province. One of his campaigners was killed in Kapisa some time back. The militants want to disrupt the process with as much violence as they can, but common people’s enthusiasm for voting is encouraging.

• A gathering of over 1000 women voiced their support for Dr. Ashraf Ghani in the August 20 presidential election. Dr. Ashraf Ghani, if elected, should work to improve the conditions for women in provinces where violence against women is common. I can’t forget the sad expressions on a girl’s face in a far away province when she told the story how she was prevented from study. She wanted to learn English and use a computer, but she was not allowed to go to school.

August 11

• Second running mate of the incumbent Hamid Karzai for the presidential election, Karim Khalili, was fined 75,000 Afghanis for using a Defense Ministry helicopter in his election campaign. And the Taliban tore down contenders’ campaign posters in the eastern Khost province.

The Election Complaint Commission (ECC) can collect a large sum of money if it started fining provincial officials for using state resources for certain candidates’ election campaigns.

And it seems the Taliban were frustrated for not having the ability to attack the election candidates, so they tore down candidates’ election posters to express their hatred.