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Will Afghans defy Taliban and flock to the ballot box?
Kim Sengupta and Jerome Starkey, The Independent
Afghanistan goes to the polls today amid fears that the outcome will be distorted by low turnout caused by violence and intimidation. After eight years of war, the landmark presidential poll could redefine Britain's military mission there, but the Taliban have already shown that they are still in control of huge swathes of countryside.

Large numbers of voters in the southern Pashtun belt, which holds the key to the result in what looks increasingly like a tight race, may fail to turn out to vote because of Taliban threats.

Islamist insurgents, who have vowed to disrupt the ballot, blocked the roads in and out of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province yesterday in a show of strength...
(20 August 2009)

Baghdad bombings raise questions about U.S. pullback
Adam Ashton, Sahar Issa and Nancy A. Youssef, McClatchy Newspapers
Two trucks loaded with explosives blew up Wednesday near Iraqi government buildings, killing at least 95 people, wounding more than 500 and marking the bloodiest day in the capital in more than 18 months.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki blamed Sunni Muslim extremists for the attacks, apparently intended to shake confidence in his government before January's national elections.

The bombings hit the city 50 days after U.S. forces withdrew from urban areas, shifting responsibility for Baghdad's security to Iraq's army and federal police, and raised questions about whether U.S. and Iraqi officials have moved too quickly to dismantle security steps that dramatically reduced bloodshed in the past two years. As part of that effort, Baghdad officials have been removing checkpoints and bringing down blast walls...
(20 August 2009)

Will U.S. Back Bogus Afghan Elections?
Andy Kroll, Mother Jones
The fact that tomorrow's presidential election in Afghanistan will be mired in corruption, fraud, and backroom dealing is all but certain, writes The Nation's Ann Jones, author of Kabul In Winter and an incisive voice on all things Afghan. The more pressing question, she says, is this: Will the U.S., in the name of demonstrating Afghanistan's "progress" toward democracy, validate the election and deem it "credible"?

If it does (and it very likely might), tomorrow will be a sad day for democracy. According to Jones, here are just a few of the reaosns why progress will be the last thing this election represents:

Stacking the Deck: All the members of the so-called Independent Election Commission were appointed by President Karzai, and they've never disguised their allegiance to him. So the initial vetting process for candidates eliminated some promising challengers and spared old cronies, including the war criminals the process was meant to screen out.

Backroom Deals: One after another, potential and declared candidates have bowed out to back Karzai. Word leaks out about which ministries they've been promised. Karzai buys the support of local leaders running for provincial offices, using (illegally) all the perks of office, from airplanes to free airtime on national TV, to help his friends and himself. One of his deals brought him Hazara support in exchange for the notorious Shia Personal Status Law, enforcing a wife's sexual servitude in violation of the Afghan Constitution.

Voter Fraud: In May in Ghazni, $200 would buy 200 blank registration cards, but lots of people, including minors, already had plenty. Men were able to get a bunch by handing in a list of women for whom they will vote by proxy. Since no central registry exists, verification is impossible. A recent report places the number of voter registration cards distributed (not including fakes) at 17 million, almost twice the estimated number of eligible voters in the country...
(19 August 2009)