Fatima, a Hazara from Ghazni Province, said she voted for Karzai based on his promises to the Hazara leadership before the election cycle began. ©2009 Derek Henry Flood
Yesterday’s elections in Kabul went off with a few hitches but at least they went. People, mostly men, turned out in numbers that were substantial considering the threat this society is under. Within Kabul’s city limits, there was only one militant assault that I am aware of and it didn’t add up to much. There were plenty of attacks leading up to election day including a bizarre siege in a bank building the day before which left three men, likely Taleban members, dead and two Afghan National Police injured. Like Pakistan’s elections last year after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, there was an immense amount of anxiety leading up to the 20, August date. And like Pakistan, not nearly as much happened as insurgent leaders would have liked. There were disparate attacks carried out across the country but the Taleban could not build enough momentum to halt the election besides the districts the central government and the Independent Election Commission had already deemed unsafe and under control of “Anti-government elements.” I crossed the capital from north and south and east to west in what was an extraordinarily long, tense day. But Tajik, Hazara, Pashtun and Sunni and Shia and men and women came out to vote. The only group I couldn’t find were the illusive Uzbeks who had, according to my driver, all set off for points north in the Turkic heartland to vote and to begin the month of Ramadan which starts tomorrow morning.
According to an email I just received from a UNDP contact at the election commission, the preliminary results will definitely be announced on 3, September though the BBC site claims they will be called in the next few days. Sorry Beeb, I have to stick with official sources on this one. The donkeys have to come over the hill from Nuristan, I don’t know who’s telling the Beeb that the results will be called in the next two days.
The security around Kabul looks to have eased up today, either that or the police are as exhausted as everyone else. The security services touted how few people they lost on election day but the security shortfall was massive everyday leading up to the election. Kabul hasn’t seen this kind of violence in a very long time. The Halcyon days here are long over.