Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Martine van Bijlert

NDS detention – not just a Canadian problem

Martine van Bijlert •

Former diplomat to Kabul, Richard Colvin, caused quite a stir in Canadian politics with his testimony to a parliamentary committee on the Afghan mission on 18 November 2009. Colvin described how he repeatedly alerted his superiors to the fact that prisoners handed over to the NDS (National Directorate of Security) were likely to face torture […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

Corruption, corruption, corruption

Martine van Bijlert •

Karzai’s international backers have made no secret of what their priorities for his new administration were: transfer of security responsibilities, reconciliation, economic development, relations with the neighbours, and corruption, corruption, corruption. They were well served by Karzai’s inaugural speech: everything was included – reason for a (small) collective sigh of relief. Another potential confrontation, with […]

International Engagement Read more

Waiting and watching

Martine van Bijlert •

So I am not in Afghanistan (no, not evacuated – just no reason to come rushing back once the second round was called off). Not part of the local speculation game on who is going to be part of the new cabinet and who will get which positions and based on which deal – although […]

Political Landscape Read more

AAN Election Blog No. 40: The President has been elected

Martine van Bijlert •

Afghanistan has a new president. After several hours of deliberation on how to respond to Abdullah’s pull-out (and after initial statements that Saturday’s second round would go ahead as planned) the IEC announced today that as Karzai had received most votes in the first round and no longer had a competitor in the second, he […]

Political Landscape Read more

AAN Election Blog No. 38: I think we should be worried now

Martine van Bijlert •

It is eleven days since President Karzai, flanked by a posse of international envoys and ambassadors, announced the date of the second round of the 2009 elections. Since then the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and UNDP ELECT have pushed ahead with the logistical preparations, releasing election material to the far corners of the country and […]

Political Landscape Read more

What about the voters (2)

Martine van Bijlert •

What do people think? Now that a million votes have been disqualified and the second round has been announced. Another collection of conversation fragments. “I am worried that something will go wrong with the elections. Many people are worried. So Karzai’s acceptance of the results is good. He has decided to avoid confrontation. It is […]

Political Landscape Read more

AAN Election Blog 37: The next chapter of the conclusion (2)

Martine van Bijlert •

So Karzai announced. His desire to have a second round, so that the bad taste of the first one could be washed away. His pride over being one of the two candidates running in that second round. His appreciation for the Afghan nation and how they participated in the election. His gratitude to the internationals […]

Political Landscape Read more

AAN Election Blog 36: The next chapter of the conclusion

Martine van Bijlert •

The ECC has released its decisions and in doing so has laid to rest the doubts or speculations that they may bend under pressure to fudge or withhold. A scroll through the well documented findings confirms the widespread reports of fraud and provides a fascinating read of what the elections must have looked like in […]

Political Landscape Read more

What about the voters

Martine van Bijlert •

What about the voters (and the non-voters). Maybe we should listen to them as well. A small collection of random conversation fragments. “Before the election I called the IEC representative in my area and asked him to arrange votes for [the presidential candidate I was supporting]. He asked me to whom in the provincial council […]

Political Landscape Read more

AAN Election Blog 35: The fog of an election result

Martine van Bijlert •

Since the results of the ECC investigation have become roughly and widely known (47-48% for Karzai) the “process” has disintegrated into a large number of scattered negotiations and confidential meetings of which the status is unclear. So everybody is phoning each other, swapping the fragments of what they have been told by so and so […]

Political Landscape Read more

AAN Election Blog 34: Rumours of a Run-off

Martine van Bijlert •

The Afghan electoral process has gone into yet another phase. The audit results were passed onto the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) a week ago. They have been endlessly mulling on how to calculate the number of polling stations that are to be annulled and are expected to hand over their conclusions to the Independent Electoral […]

Political Landscape Read more

What the preliminary results tell us (3): Logar, Baghlan and Uruzgan

Martine van Bijlert •

Another brief overview of what you can find when going through the preliminary election results in which a few simple calculations illustrate how far some people will go, acquiring thousands of votes often in very limited localities. No wonder voters feel their vote no longer counts. So let’s take a brief look at some results […]

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