Abdullah Seeks First Round Victory in Afghan Elections

Abdullah Abdullah, a candidate for the Afghan presidency, hopes to attain a first-round victory in the April 2014 Afghan elections. He was one of several candidates who ran in the 2009 presidential elections. Hamid Karzai, the leading candidate in those elections, did not attain 50% of the vote so a run-off was announced between Karzai and Abdullah - the second runner-up. However, the 2009 elections were marked with massive fraud and corruption and Karzai basically stole the election. Abdullah withdrew from the run-off election as he realized there was no hope of winning a rigged election against Karzai. This time around it is hoped that the upcoming election will be less corrupt. Time will tell. Read more in "Abdullah aims for knock-out blow in Afghan elections", Japan Times, February 19, 2014.

Taliban Takeover Post-2014: Not So Much

The Taliban have been confidently proclaiming that they will be resurgent in the post-2014 era in Afghanistan. Their information operations machinery works well in the rural countryside of Afghanistan but not that well in the well-educated urban areas. The likelihood of a Taliban takeover of Afghanistan is not strong. They will probably gain more territory in the remote areas of eastern and southern Afghanistan (especially among the Pashtuns). Some factors that will influence how well the Afghan government and security forces perform in post-2014 are the results of the Afghan election in 2014, the signing of the Bilateral Security Agreement, and the commitment of the international community to continue to fund the Afghan government and military. Jason H. Campbell, an associate policy analyst at the RAND Corporation, provides his thoughts on a possible Taliban takeover in "Take Two for the Taliban?", U.S. News and World Report, February 11, 2014.

Afghan Presidential Debate

The pace of the road to the Afghan elections is picking up with active campaigning by all eleven candidates for president. A series of presidential debates are being held so the candidates can get their views across to the Afghan public. A recent televised debate was held in Kabul. Read more in "Afghan Presidential Hopefuls Debate Corruption, Peace, Women's Rights", Radio Free Europe, February 16, 2014.

Some Question Youth Awareness about Afghan Election

There are questions being raised about the awareness level of the Afghan elections among young people that will take place in April 2014. About 68 per cent of Afghanistan's population of 28 million are under the age of 25 and 77 per cent of the people live in rural areas. Read more in "Afghan Youth Debates: Concerns About Youth Awareness of Polls", Institute for War & Peace Reporting, February 14, 2014.

End Game in Afghanistan - A Canadian's View

A commentator, Scott Taylor, for a Canadian newspaper provides us his outlook on possible outcomes of the Afghan War. He looks at the eleven candidates running in the 2014 Afghan election and comes to the conclusion that things look dismal. He observes that the main objective of the International Security Force Afghanistan (ISAF) is to make the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) as capable as possible so that they can support whoever gets elected in April (or May, or June, . . . depending on the schedule of election runoffs). His concluding sentence is revealing - "We just need the Afghan army to hold the airfields until the last NATO plane has departed". Read the story in "West hopes for best of worst in Afghanistan", The Chronicle Herald, February 9, 2014.

Interview with Fawzia Koofi - Woman MP in Afghan Parliament

A woman member of the Afghan parliament and a strong advocate for women's rights in Afghanistan has provided an interview highlighting the difficulties that women have in the Afghan governmental process. Fawzia Koofi was a presidential candidate planning to run in the April 2014 presidential elections until she was disqualified. Read more about Fawzia Koofi in "The leadership turns off our microphones when we speak", The Guardian, February 8, 2014.

Afghan Presidential Candidates and Their Positions on Human Rights

Human Rights Watch sent out a questionnaire to the eleven presidential candidates running in the April 2014 Afghan election. Only 4 of the 11 candidates responded to the questionnaire. Topics included accountability for war crimes, women's rights, and torture. The four candidates who responded included Abdullah Abdullah, Qutbuddin Helal, Qayum Karzai, and Daoud Sultanzoy. Read more in "Afghanistan: Candidates' Positions on Rights in Spotlight", Human Rights Watch, February 9, 2014.

Profile of Afghan Candidates for President

There are eleven candidates for the office of President of Afghanistan who are running campaigns with hopes of being elected on April 5, 2014. Learn all about them in "Candidates for Afghanistan's presidential election", Charlotte Observer, February 7, 2014.

Afghan Official Confident on Elections

The head of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) says that there is concern for violence during the April 2014 presidential elections. However, he states a number of improvements have been made that will ensure the 2014 election will be conducted better than the 2009 presidential election that was marred by violence, voter intimidation, ballot stuffing, corruption, and fraud. The election official is hoping to avoid some of the past election problems. Read more in "Afghanistan Says Set to Ensure Elections Avoid Past Problems", The New York Times, February 9, 2014.

Brief Introduction to Prime Movers in Afghan Elections

 A recent online post provides us with pictures and a brief bio of the prime movers in the upcoming April 2014 presidential elections that will be held in Afghanistan. Some of the more colorful presidential candidates are presented along with a few of the vice-presidential candidates. Read more in "Afghanistan's Future: Who's Who in Pivotal Presidential Election", NBC News, February 9, 2014.

Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf - Potential President

A former warlord, Abdul Rab Rasoul Sayyaf, could very well be the next president of Afghanistan after the April 2014 Afghan elections. He comes with a certain amount of baggage - human rights abuses (the Hazaras are not fond of him), associations with terrorist organizations, and he is an Islamic hardliner. However, as the leader of a Pashtun party that is very anti-Taliban he enjoys a lot of support politically within Afghanistan. He is famous as a jihadi leader of a Pashtun militia against the Russians during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan in the 1980s. Read more in "Former warlord launches campaign to succeed Karzai", The Washington Post, February 7, 2014.

Afghan ECC Lacks Funding to Monitor Elections at Provincial Level

(Reuters) - Afghanistan's election watchdog may not be ready in time for a presidential vote in April because of funding and staffing problems, a setback that could undermine a ballot already threatened by a repeat of the widespread fraud seen in 2009. Presidential candidates began two months of campaigning this week ahead of the crucial election, which Afghans and Western allies hope will help consolidate fragile stability as foreign troops prepare to leave after nearly 13 years of war. But, with the campaign well underway, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) says it has received only a fraction of its funding from foreign donors because the government has yet to approve the appointment of provincial officials.

Read the rest of the story in "Afghanistan's election watchdog plagued by delays, funding woes", Reuters, February 6, 2014. Learn more about the Afghan presidential elections.

UNAMA - Women Participation Key to Afghan Election Success

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is calling the role of women in decision-making vital for Afghanistan's future. The voting by women in the upcoming Afghan elections will be an indicator of the elections success and the hopes are that women will come out in force to vote. Afghan women have made great strides since the overthrow of the Taliban regime in late 2001; however, with the withdrawal of ISAF those advances may fade. Read more in "Afghanistan: UN official says women's participation 'key measure' of election's success", UN News Centre, February 5, 2014.

Abdullah Abdullah, Elections, and Bilateral Security Agreement

Abdullah Abdullah, a leading contender for the Afghan presidential elections to be held on April 5, 2014 says he will sign the Bilateral Security Agreement if elected. Read more in a blog post on CNN by Christiane Amanpour published on February 3, 2014 here.

Afghans Looking for Results From Presidential Elections

In April 2014 the Afghans will once again vote for a president - replacing Karzai who has held the position way too long. There are 11 presidential candidates who are looking for support in the election. A key issue will be the future deployment of foreign troops in Afghanistan after December 2014. The two top priorities for Afghans are security and economic gains. Read more in "As campaign begins, Afghans look for results, not promises", Stars and Stripes, February 2, 2014.

Presidential Election Campaign Opens But With Violence

The presidential campaign in Afghanistan is now in full swing. The elections will be held in April 2014. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the elections in an effort to discredit the results. The violence has started against the campaign workers - the most recent was the assassination of two workers for Abdullah Abdullah in the city of Herat in western Afghanistan. Read more in "Afghanistan presidential campaign opens, marred by violence", Los Angeles Times, February 2, 2014.

Afghan Election Poll Funds Canceled by U.S.

The U.S. has cancelled the funding to conduct some pre-election polling prior to the Afghan elections. Relations between the U.S. and Karzai have been deteriorating and now it appears that Karzai (among other things) is accusing the U.S. of trying to influence the Afghan elections through the polls. Read more in "U.S. cancels funds for Afghan polls ahead of election", Reuters, January 30, 2014.

Can the ANSF Hold Back the Taliban during Elections?

A big question on everyone's mind is whether or not the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) can provide security for the 6,000 plus voting polls located across the country. A recent report by the Ministry of Interior and Ministry of Defense states that the ANSF will be able to secure 95% of the polling stations. Other outside observers are not so optimistic. A key component of the security system working is the integration of the Afghan National Army (ANA), Afghan National Police (ANP), National Directorate of Security (NDS), and other security organizations working together to secure the election. One integral part of the coordination will take place at the Operational Coordination Centers (OCCs) located at the regional and provincial levels. Read more about election security in "As Taliban steps up attacks, can Afghanistan hold peaceful national polls?", Christian Science Monitor Security Watch, January 21, 2014.

Recommendations for a Successful Afghan Election

The Brookings Institute has posted a "Memorandum to the President" entitled Afghanistan's Presidential Election Goes Awry. The memo calls on President Obama to adopt a multifaceted effort to support the Afghan elections and persuade Afghanistan to permit a continued and stabilizing U.S. military presence after 2014. Read the memo, dated January 23, 2014.

Election Security Not a Problem Says Afghan Spokesman

Afghan security officials believe that the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) will be able to provide security for the great majority of the election polling stations in the upcoming Afghan presidential elections. The Ministry of Interior spokesman, Sediq Sediqqi, said that a security assessment done for the election commission shows that 6,431 polling stations out of 6,845 can be guaranteed secure for the April election. There are 414 polling stations that still have security questions. Read the story in "Afghan officials say own troops to secure election", The Washington Post, January 11, 2014.