By Abdulhadi Hairan

‘Have not you ever seen a woman casting vote?’ asked an angry BB Jamila who was surrounded by an army of reporters and cameramen the moment she stepped inside Zarghoona High School at Shahr-e-Naw, Kabul. The reporters inundated her with questions she had never heard and had never expected that she would face such a situation in the polling center. Leaving home for the polling center, she had some hidden fears that the Taliban militants might attack, but here she was in a completely different situation: cameras flushed at her, reporters asked questions about the election, Afghanistan’s future and about the importance of women’s role. ‘Where do you think the country is heading?’ a reporter asked in Dari. She answered in a tired and uncaring voice that she was heading to cast her vote and then wanted to go to her home.

Inside the compound of the school, where the number of female voters seemed equal to the male voters, correspondents of the local and international media waited for voters to interview but the turnout was lower than they expected, so they had to wait for half of the whole day to get enough information to dispatch to their organizations.

My first visit was to the Habibia High School at Karta-e-3. The time was exactly 08:13 AM. The polling had been started about one hour earlier amid tight security. Empty roads and closed markets was a clear sign that the turnout will be low. At Habibia, this was the real case. Reporters and cameramen followed every voter to have an interview with or get some information from. Some people were willing to show their faces, others quietly left the schools leaving cameramen and reporters behind. The outspoken presidential candidate, Ramazan Bashardost cast his vote at this polling center and then started giving statements and interviews to the media. I saw no female voter entering this polling center.

Later, Dr. Ashraf Ghani also arrived at this polling center and cast his vote here. He was surrounded by a large number of campaigners who were highly optimistic about his victory despite the low turnout they could see. He also gave many statements and interviews to the media and met lot of people at the center. To my surprise, an old Kuchi man, whom I had interviewed few minutes ago and who proudly told me that he had cast his vote for Hamid Karzai, hugged him and told him that he liked him very much. After Mr. Ghani left, I asked the man if he was so fond of him and liked him so much why he voted for Karzai. He simply replied, ‘I like Ghani, he is a good man, but I voted for Karzai because I know he can lead this country better than anyone else.’

I interviewed few more people and went to another polling center: a high school at Chehal Satoon (district 7). And then to five more polling centers, including Zarghoona High School at Shahr-e-Naw. The voters were excited everywhere, but rush was nowhere. At a high school at Karta-e-9, there was a firing from somewhere close to the area, but there was no panic and the voters continued to vote. At Ghulam Haider Khan High School at Khairkhana, someone spread news that there was a blast at a polling center somewhere at the city. Yet no one left their place or looked worried. They just continued to vote and made exaggerating claims about the victory of their candidates.

At the polling centers, I interviewed 66 people and asked them whom they had voted for in order to have an idea about the popularity of the candidates. The result was that the majority of the people said they had voted for President Karzai. Following are the details of the respondents’ answers:

Habibia High School

President Hamid Karzai            9

Dr. Ashraf Ghani                         1

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah            1

Chehal Satoon

President Hamid Karzai            1

Dr. Ashraf Ghani                      1

Karta-e-9

President Hamid Karzai            2

Isteqlal High School, Park Zarnigar

President Hamid Karzai            2

Dr. Ashraf Ghani                      2

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah        1

Zarghoona High School, Shahr-e-Naw

President Hamid Karzai            7

Dr. Ashraf Ghani                      1

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah         2

Ghulam Haider Khan High School, Khairkhana

President Hamid Karzai            17

Dr. Ashraf Ghani                      3

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah         7

Ramazan Bashardost                1

Nadria High School, Karta-e-Parwan

President Hamid Karzai            4

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah             4

Total

President Hamid Karzai            42

Dr. Ashraf Ghani                          8

Dr. Abdullah Abdullah            15

Ramazan Bashardost                1

Among the people I interviewed 5 were women and the rest men. Among the men were Pashtoons, Tajik, and others. One said he was a traffic police officer. Majority of those who had voted for Karzai said they were happy with his leadership because their life conditions were improved during his presidency. A shopkeeper said he voted for Karzai because he had united the Afghans and provided better opportunities for them. He said he liked Karzai because he did not like wars and always acted wisely.

I also interviewed 10 people who were not registered voters. I asked why. 6 of them said they simply did not spare time to go to a voter registration center and register their names. 1 said they were not interested in the elections and did not care where the country was going. 1 said he was not sure whom to vote for, hence he did not try to get a voter card. 1 said he believed that democracy was against Islam.

Among the six who did not spare time for registering their names, 3 said they would have liked to vote for Karzai; one said for Dr. Ashraf Ghani; one said for Dr. Abdullah; and one said for Mirwais Yasini.

The voting is still underway and will continue until late. There is a strong possibility that a runoff will be needed.

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.

 Described by the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, as the ‘most complicated,’ the 2009 Afghan presidential and provincial elections, set for August 20, are going to make history in many ways.

 During the first presidential election, held in September 2004, the people had commonly developed a hope that the coming four years will have a huge contribution to their country and the next time they will cast their votes in peace and prosperity. But they are now seeing the opposite, unfortunately.

 Besides a surge in attacks countrywide, the Taliban militants vowed on July 30th that they will try their best to prevent voters from going to polling stations to cast their votes. They have already killed many campaigners and have attacked many campaign offices in different provinces.

 On the other hand, among 41 in total, there are only two female presidential candidates this time (In the 2004 presidential election, there was 1 female among 18 total candidates). They are even not able to put their campaign posters freely on public places let alone asking people for votes. The female candidates for provincial seats have been campaigning in burqas, not because they are so fond of wearing the garment, but they have been facing opposition and are under constant threats from people around them. Some times their families also get targeted by the anti-election and anti-women elements so they use every means to hide their identity and go to the campaign meetings where only women are present. And that too after getting permission from their male relatives.

 The UN special envoy also said that around 3000 donkeys were deployed to carry the ballots to the remote areas in the provinces. This means that the areas where the donkeys have to carry the ballots do not have any roads (‘road’ here does not necessarily mean an asphalted and properly constructed road, but can be a pathway on which a vehicle just can draw itself. We have hundreds of this kind of pathways, in Afghanistan, even in the capital, Kabul, which are generally called ‘roads.’ But the areas mentioned do not have even these roads why the UN had to hire 3000 donkeys).

 Question: would the people to whom the donkeys are carrying the ballots have any idea what to do with them? Would they be aware of the election campaign, the candidates, the issues and challenges that the country has been facing and the candidates’ policies on them? Let’s hope the donkeys do not return from the villages and write down this interesting history.

 Fresh news: another rival candidate, Baz Mohammad Kofi, announced his withdrawal from the race in favor of the incumbent Hamid Karzai. What does this mean? He is the winner again!

After many efforts by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), the government of Pakistan eventually announced to extend the stay of Afghan refugees for more three years in the country that itself faces a flow of IDPs due to the rising militancy and a war-like situation.

Najmuddin Khan, the Pakistani Minister for Refugees’ Affairs, made this announcement in Islamabad on Thursday and said the deadline that was going to expire by the end of this year will now be extended until 2012; the security situation in Afghanistan would have been hopefully improved by then.

 The government had issued the registered Afghans in Pakistan refugee status cards valid until the end of 2009. According to news reports, the Minister said the decision will be announced formally after an upcoming tripartite meeting of Pakistan, Afghanistan, and the UNHCR, in Kabul.

 Though many people expected this decision, yet it was the cause of immense satisfaction for those who did not want to return to Afghanistan right now – some because of the deteriorating security situation and some due to personal reasons.

 Besides this good decision, which was a legitimate right of the Afghan refugees living in the country for almost two decades, we demand the government of Pakistan to order its police not to treat the helpless Afghan refugees in uncivilized way. Several reports suggest that the police have been beating and humiliating the Afghans just because they are Afghan refugees. That is the worst impression of Pakistani state that the returning Afghans carry with them.