A Chance for Afghans to Test the Magic Key

Article, by Amir Taheri

Just a couple of years ago the suggestion that Afghanistan might one day hold elections would have sounded fanciful. The Taleban, representing one of the most vicious forms of religious fascism, regarded any participation by the people in decision-making as “un-Islamic”. All power belonged to Mulla Muhammad Omar, the self-styled Emir Al-Momeneen (Commander of the Faithful) who claimed infallibility. Matters got worse when Osama Bin Laden, the now fugitive terrorist mastermind, soft-soaped the one-eyed Mulla into fancying himself as a caliph for all Muslims.
In a recent statement , apparently Xeroxed somewhere in Pakistan, the disappearing mulla threatens to kill not only the candidates in [today]’s elections but also anyone who dares go to the polls. The remnants of Osama’s gang have added their voice to Mulla Omar’s threats to disrupt the election tomorrow.
The remnants of the Taleban and Al-Qaeda are not the only ones who see elections as the death of their dreams for a return to power in Afghanistan. [Today]’s election could close a chapter of Afghan history in which different brands of despotism competed for power. The various leftist groups that had plagued Afghan politics since the mid-1950s until their defeat in 1992, see the election as the end of the road for them. Afghanistan will never again become a “people’s democratic republic” ruled by “the vanguard of the proletarian revolution.” The election will also bury religious fascists such as the so-called Hizb Islami (Islamic Party) of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, and its splinter faction led by Yunus Khalis. The election will also write the political obituary of so-called moderate Islamists such as Burhaneddin Rabbani, who served as president of a coalition government in Kabul in the early 1990s.
Since its liberation from the Taleban, Afghanistan has embarked upon a slow but steady recovery from almost three decades of foreign occupation, civil war and fanatical rule. This year income per head per annum rose to $240, compared to under $200 in 2001. Unemployment, meanwhile, has fallen from an estimated 60 percent of the labor force to around 40 percent.
More importantly, perhaps, Afghanistan has managed to absorb almost four million refugees returning home, mostly from Pakistan and Iran.
There is no doubt that terrorists of all denominations will do all they can to disrupt [today]’s election, especially in the southeast of the country where central government forces have only a tentative presence. The terrorists have already killed 12 election workers and injured more than 100 others. But they failed to prevent the main candidates from campaigning.

The current interim President Hamid Karzai is expected to win today.

Societies that adopt elections as a means of resolving political conflicts and broadening the base of decision-making do so at great risk to their peace and stability. And there is no guarantee that a society that has adopted elections will not, in a moment of disappointment with democracy, not revert to dictatorship in one form or another. After all Hitler won the 1933 election at a time Germans saw “too much democracy” as symbolized by the Weimar Republic as the cause of all their woes.
Having said all that it is important to remember where Afghanistan was two years ago and where it is today. Afghanistan’s first ever election should be a source of inspiration for all those who believe that a judicious mix of military force, economic aid, and political will can produce miracles in nation-building.

Amir says it better than I can, so the best I can do is quote him.