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2010 Elections 17: A tense electoral run in Takhar

The first, very partial election results in Takhar have appeared on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) website. This offers the opportunity to go back to notes taken on a field trip over election-day, and present them along with our perceptions of the situation in the province. By AAN researchers Fabrizio Foschini and Obaidullah Ali. The […]

30 Sep 2010 Fabrizio Foschini • Political Landscape

Warlords’ Peace Council

After a series of announcements that the members of the High Peace Council would soon be announced, and a considerable delay reportedly about who should chair the council – a question that is still open – the names of 68 members were finally released today (with apparently two more still to be added). Looking at […]

28 Sep 2010 Martine van Bijlert • War and Peace

General Petraeus about Taleban contacts (updated)

Reconciliation – a.k.a. talking to the Taleban – is a hot issue. Anything new is picked up quickly by the media world-wide, in particular when it comes from someone with a political weight like Gen. Petraeus. But please also read the small print. So, here is what Gen. Petraeus said: ‘There are very high-level Taliban […]

28 Sep 2010 Thomas Ruttig • War and Peace

2010 Election 16: Will women win both Nimruz seats?

It is interesting to see how candidates narrow down the local parliamentary elections to a competition between a limited number of rivals. The women in many provinces have their own competition, vying mainly for the seats reserved for female candidates. Their complaints thus tend to focus on their immediate female rivals, disregarding the fraud that […]

27 Sep 2010 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

Empire Going Mad

The current US clue- and helplessness in Afghanistan, with its strategy that no one knows whether it will work and with no Plan B, is definitely crying out for some ‘out of the box’ thinking. But the ideas which have started to appear on various websites reminds one of the mad Dr. Strangelove, who learned […]

27 Sep 2010 Thomas Ruttig • International Engagement

2010 Elections 15: What a Kunar Candidate Complains About

These days are filled with stories of electoral fraud and irregularities, copies of complaints forms, grainy videos, and the wait for some solid results to be posted on the IEC website. Some reports are more detailed than others and some are so detailed and illustrative that they are worth repeating. The following is a report […]

26 Sep 2010 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

2010 Elections 14: Voices from Paktia

Amongst high official turnout figures, the first results being announced and reports of irregularities coming in from all corners of Southeast Afghanistan, it is also perception which counts. Here some voices from Paktia, some with an own interest to be elected, other from an impartial position. ‘This was not an election, but a selection.’ Two […]

26 Sep 2010 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

2010 Elections 13: A ‘Taleban Election Campaign’?

There have been statements and speculations recently about a possible involvement of the Taleban in the recent Afghan parliamentary elections, directly or indirectly. So, let’s summarize what we have about this and see whether there was possibly was a ‘Taleban elections strategy’. On 13 September, the UN Special Rep in Kabul Staffan de Mistura said […]

25 Sep 2010 Thomas Ruttig • Political Landscape

2010 Elections 12: Behind the complaints

Candidates, candidate supporters and observers are awaiting the posting of the preliminary results, to see what has been made of the messiness that surrounded much of the polling. The first partial result was released on 23 September 2010 – Panjshir with 66.7% of the vote counted – but the results per polling stations are still […]

24 Sep 2010 Martine van Bijlert • Political Landscape

2010 Elections 11: A cab ride through Herat voting

Impressions from one of the biggest and richest Afghan cities where high turnout and low levels of fraud were expected highlight how the appearance of a highly organized election can distract from the fault-lines all around: just few kilometres out of the nicely accessible Herat city centre, a whole slew of fraud techniques were being […]

23 Sep 2010 Fabrizio Foschini • Political Landscape