Afghan Voter Turnout Appears Low

Afghan Voter Turnout Appears Low

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KABUL -- Taliban threats and violence appeared to dampen voter turnout in the militant south today as Afghans chose the next president for their deeply troubled country. Insurgents launched scattered rocket, suicide and bomb attacks, violence that closed some polling sites.

Low turnout in the south would harm President Hamid Karzai's re-election chances and boost the standing of his top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Turnout in the north appeared to be high, a good sign for Abdullah.

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So far today in Afghanistan the old adage rings true “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”.

So far voter turnout in Afghanistan appears to be 40% less than the election held in 2004. A fairly clear sign Afghanis are far from thrilled with the endemic corruption in the government in Kabul. International authorities still appear uncertain whether the turnout will be large enough to give those elected a veil of legitimacy in the eyes of the Afghan people.

Nearly 8 years after the U.S. led invasion of Afghanistan the Taliban still has significant portions of the country under it’s control and influence and an endless series of collateral damage resulting in the loss of live and injury of civilians, amongst other coalition military blunders politically and on the battlefield truly has failed to win the hearts and minds of the Afghanistan people.

There is an excellent chance the U.S. has far fewer friends and admirers in Afghanistan now than before invading the country to oust Taliban rule and set up an American styled constitution and democracy.

51% of Americans no longer favor the War in Afghanistan as being one U.S. lives and dollars should be committed and sacrificed too. I have a funny feeling based on today’s turnout so far in Afghanistan that figure is ever higher in Afghanistan.

With sectarian violence continuing to rip Iraq apart at the seems and Afghanis showing little faith or desire to participate in the democratic processes installed by force of arms, and the U.S. Treasury trillions in debt, and Iraqis, Afghanis and Americans mourning the needless loss of loved ones it appears the only real winner so far in the War on Terror is the Military Industrial Complex raking up record profits waging it.


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In the U.S., meanwhile, an ABC News-Washington Post poll found 51 percent who said the war was not worth fighting, while 47 percent said it was worth it.

Only a quarter in the poll favored sending more U.S. troops to Afghanistan while almost twice as many would like to see the number of troops decreased. Three years ago the U.S. had about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan. There are expected to be about 68,000 by year's end.

Military.com

While the surge in Iraq in many ways just added up to creating a massive policing effort in densely populated urban areas that did a more effective job at suppressing sectarian violence, Afghanistan’s population is much more rural and spread out. Accomplishing the same kind of ‘someone is always watching’ presence throughout Afghanistan is going to likely be far harder and far less effective in a simple surge of military presence into the region.

Iraq has increasingly disintegrated back into mounting sectarian violence now that U.S. Troops have been withdrawn from the streets of large population centers. While it can be successfully claimed that the surge in Iraq did lower violence and make the streets safer while the troops were present visibly in such high concentrations so too can it be argued that alone has not changed or fixed the problem of underlying sectarian rivalries.

As Americans do we really want to commit trillions of dollars annually and the lives of our soldiers, sailors and aviators to forcing other people to get along simply by making it to deadly for them ourselves to not get along?