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Afghan Youth Debates: Security and Fraud Issues Must be Addressed

June 10, 2014, 8:50 am
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Poor security and electoral fraud remain major concerns among voters in Herat province as Afghanistan heads towards a second-round ballot to determine its next president.

Students and poll monitoring officials told an IWPR debate that the initial April 5 ballot had been wracked with problems, and sought reassurances that the June 14 run-off would be trouble-free.

Mohammad Daud Sediqzada, regional chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), the body responsible for the vote, insisted that his officials were much better prepared for the upcoming poll.

Raihana Akbari, Herat provincial head of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), said 700 of her staff were on hand to help observe the process and prevent corruption.

"We...


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Afghan Youth Debates: Voters Must Back Second Round

June 10, 2014, 9:07 am
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Panellists at a video-link debate between Helmand and Khost universities have called on young Afghans to fully support the second round of the presidential election.

In a video conference via Skype, lecturers and tribal elders told students to give careful thought to which candidate they wanted to back, as Afghanistan's future lay in their hands.

Addressing the May 31 event, Nasir Ahmad Roshan, head of the Lincoln Educational Centre in Khost province, stressed that merit, not ethnicity, should be the deciding factor in choosing President Hamed Karzai's successor.

He said a successful run-off on June 14 was essential to both the country's short-term prosperity and its long-term development goals.

"The intensification of attacks by armed...


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Afghan Youth Debates: Investing in Young People Critical

June 11, 2014, 8:06 am
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Afghanistan's young people must be seen as the foundation on which a stronger, better-educated nation can be built, an IWPR debate in the southeastern Khost province has heard.

Amir Bahir, a lecturer in law and political science, argued that the country hope to move forward only if it invested in the potential of young people by giving them access to learning and improved employment opportunities.

Speaking at a debate held on June 5 at the privately-run Nur al-Basar High School, he told an audience of undergraduates that President Hamed Karzai's successor must view those aged under 25 as an absolute priority.

Currently, he said, young people lacked both the training and the incentives they would need to adequately contribute to the country's economy and...


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Afghan Youth Debates: Afghanistan Like "Sick Patient"

June 11, 2014, 8:13 am
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A leading civil society activist from the southern Helmand province has compared Afghanistan to a sick patient requiring urgent medical assistance.

Agha Mohammad Quraishi said an enormous amount of work was needed to help put the country on a path towards peace and prosperity. It would take an exceptional "doctor" to cure the nation's ills, he said.

Addressing some 100 students at an IWPR debate, Quraishi urged all voters to careful scrutinise the policy platforms of the remaining two candidates in the June 14 presidential run-off. Afghans had a duty to "elect a leader who will fulfill our wishes", he said.

The IWPR debate took place on June 9 at Helmand University. Panellists including Sher Khan Omari, director of youth affairs in the Nad...


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Afghans Choose a President

June 11, 2014, 9:15 am
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Abdullah Abdullah (left) and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. (Photos: US embassy Kabul/Flickr)
Abdullah Abdullah (left) and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. (Photos: US embassy Kabul/Flickr)


Second round pits Abdullah Abdullah against Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.

On June 14, Afghans will decide which of two candidates will become their next president. In the first round of voting held on April 5, Abdullah Abdullah won 45 per cent of the vote, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai 32 per cent, and the other candidates were a long way behind. Because no one got 50 per cent of the vote, a run-off was called.

Despite heavy rain, turnout in round one was exceptional, at about 60 per cent of registered voters, and Afghan security forces were praised for warding off serious insurgent attacks. (See Euphoria at Afghan Poll Security Success.)

Some commentators fear that turnout will be lower this time as some voters tire of the long-drawn out electoral process...


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Election Fraud Allegations in Afghan Southeast

June 12, 2014, 5:29 am
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Afghan National Army men in Khost province, 2009. (Photo: Isafmedia/Flickr)
Afghan National Army men in Khost province, 2009. (Photo: Isafmedia/Flickr)


In Khost province, army dismisses claims of a plot to interfere in this week’s presidential ballot.

A row has broken out in the southeast Afghan province of Khost over allegations that members of the Afghan National Army (ANA) intend to fix the June 14 vote.

Officials and activists say they have received credible reports that soldiers deployed in the province plan to fill ballot boxes with filled-out slips and intimidate voters in the election. They say elements within the military are working to secure a win for one of the two candidates, Abdullah Abdullah.

The June 14 run-off will pit Abdullah, a former foreign minister, against ex-World Bank economist and finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. The run-off was called because no candidate secured the 50 per cent needed for an outright win in the election held on April 5. That first round saw a high turnout,...


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Afghan Youth Debates: Strong Military is Key to Future

June 12, 2014, 4:51 pm
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Afghanistan must work to strengthen its military if it is to have any chance of effective influence in the region post 2014, a retired army general has claimed.

General Atiqullah Amarkhel, formerly of the Afghan National Army and now a defence analyst, said President Hamed Karzai's successor had a duty to recognise how vulnerable the country would be once the majority of NATO forces withdrew at the end of this year.

Speaking at a debate held by IWPR in the capital Kabul, Amarkhel argued that any perceived weakness in the new government would undermine its ability to protect its regional interests. A lack of military muscle would inevitably have knock-on effects for Afghanistan's struggling economy, with a risk that neighbours like Pakistan and Iran would seek to...


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Afghan Youth Debates: Voter Safety Assured in Kunduz

June 12, 2014, 4:57 pm
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Afghan security forces in the northern Kunduz province have attempted to reassure voters that they will be kept safe while voting in the presidential run-off on June 14.

Sayed Sarwar Husseini, a senior spokesman for police in the region, claimed that insurgents lacked the weaponry and manpower to engage government troops at close quarters, and had been forced to change their tactics as a result.

Addressing students at an IWPR debate in Kunduz, he revealed he had only just received a report detailing the latest successful operation against the insurgents.

Husseini said a group of 17 Taleban fighters had been killed in what he described as a "mopping up" exercise, the purpose of which was to make safe districts in readiness for the second round of voting....


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Afghan Youth Debates: Vote Must Unite Afghanistan

June 13, 2014, 4:51 am
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Academics and civil society activists in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar have urged voters to "wake up" and recognise that the June 14 presidential ballot is critical to securing peace and prosperity.

Nut Anwar Faruqi, a lecturer in law and politics, said he believed all eligible voters not only had a duty to take part in the historic poll, but should also view the vote as a privilege, not just a right.

Addressing more than 60 undergraduates at an IWPR debate, he urged voters to set aside traditional allegiances when considering whether to back candidate Abdullah Abdullah or his opponent Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. Instead, he said, they had a responsibility to support the candidate who would best represent the country's interests. Above all else,...


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High Turnout and Fraud Claims in Afghan Run-Off

June 16, 2014, 11:15 am
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A female voter holds up a finger with ink on it showing she has voted, and preventing her from doing so again. (Photo: IWPR Afghanistan)
A female voter holds up a finger with ink on it showing she has voted, and preventing her from doing so again. (Photo: IWPR Afghanistan)


Election officials say more than seven million voted in second round of presidential election.

Afghanistan’s presidential run-off election followed a similar pattern to the first round – reports of high turnout and relatively good security, but claims of electoral fraud, too.

In the June 14 vote, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah stood against ex-World Bank economist and finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, after the April 5 election failed to produce an outright winner.

Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani, chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) told a press conference that over seven million voters took part, 38 per cent of them women. This early estimate would, if confirmed, be similar to the 60 per cent turnout recorded in the first round.

Nuristani said the fact that the election was run and policed by Afghans “increased the...


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Afghan Youth Debates: Second Round Hailed as Success

June 19, 2014, 6:06 am
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Journalists and academics from Kabul have praised voters for their unwavering commitment to Afghanistan's presidential election.

Senior lecturers said public support for a free and fair ballot was unquestionable, and urged people to continue backing the process and to accept the result.

Speaking at an IWPR debate held in the capital on June 17, three days after the second-round vote, Fahim Hakim from Kabul University noted that turnout had been high, with an estimated seven million people taking part.

He said Afghans deserved great credit for taking on board the lessons learnt from the initial April 5 poll and ensuring that the same mistakes were not repeated the second time.

"Voters went to the ballot box much better informed [in the second round...


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Afghan Currency Traders Accused of Cheating

June 23, 2014, 5:04 am
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Residents of Nangarhar province complain they are being charged more for marked notes.

Wasiullah, 32, stood in front of a money exchange shop in the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, angrily brandishing a handful of 100 dollar bills as he argued with a currency trader.

“Brother, look at these notes and tell me what’s wrong with them,” he demanded.

Wasiullah, 32, a resident of Khugiani district in Nangarhar province, said he wanted to change five 100-dollar bills into Pakistani rupees, a currency often used in eastern Afghanistan.

But he complained that the money changer wanted to charge him an extra 1.5 dollars for each 100 dollar bill on the grounds that the notes were damaged.

“That’s a big loss,” he said. “I swear to God that it’s robbery.”

Another man, Shawali, from Khewa...


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Afghanistan: Khost Locals Contest "Inflated Turnout" Claim

June 23, 2014, 10:28 am
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Candidate Abdullah Abdullah said turnout figures showed more voters than actually exist in the province.

Allegations of massive ballot-stuffing in southeast Afghanistan’s Khost province have provoked a storm of anger, as local election officials insist a disputed high turnout figure was accurate.

Abdullah Abdullah, one of two presidential candidates standing in a final run-off held on June 14, has dismissed the high turnout figure of seven million-plus nationwide, a number he says can only have been achieved by packing fraudulent votes for his rival, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.

Speaking at a press conference on June 18, Abdullah said he trusted neither the Independent Election Commission (IEC) nor the Electoral Complaints Commission, and demanded that the count be halted.

One of the claims Abdullah made struck a raw nerve in Khost province, where he said that...


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Afghan Youth Debates: Second-Round Turnout Lower in Kunduz

July 1, 2014, 6:58 am
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Kunduz province in northern Afghanistan experienced a substantial drop in turnout during the second round of the country's presidential poll, an IWPR debate has heard.

Hamidullah Baluch, regional head of public awareness at the Independent Election Commission (IEC), the body responsible for overseeing the vote, said the region’s heavy dependence on agriculture prevented many workers from leaving the fields to vote.

Baluch recalled that the first round of the presidential election, held on April 5, took place well before crops like wheat and watermelons were ready to harvest. But the subsequent June 14 run-off came at a time when farmers were at their busiest.

"In the second round of the election, 122,000 men and 72,000 women cast votes – a...


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Afghan Youth Debates: Election Fraud Accusations Dismissed

June 25, 2014, 10:08 am
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Academics and political analysts in the southeastern province of Paktia have insisted that Afghanistan's June 14 run-off vote was not compromised by excessive fraud.

Experts told undergraduates at an IWPR debate in the province’s main town, Gardez, that the critical second round of the presidential election was largely free and fair, and that any allegations of corruption would be investigated thoroughly.

Since the ballot, presidential contender Abdullah Abdullah has alleged significant amounts of ballot-stuffing. Last week, his campaign team announced it was severing all contact with the election bodies charged with overseeing the vote. His subsequent decision to reopen a dialogue only came after the resignation of Zia ul-Haq Amarkhel, the head of the...


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Afghan Fighting Season Begins Amid Political Deadlock

July 9, 2014, 4:23 am
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Taleban may exploit power vacuum as election result controversy continues.

Analysts have warned that the continuing deadlock over the Afghan presidential run-off is being exploited by insurgents as the traditional summer “fighting season” begins.

Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah has rejected preliminary results from the June 14 vote which were announced by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) this week, giving him 43.6 per cent of the vote.

The IEC said his rival, former world bank economist and finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, won 56.4 per cent of the vote, according to early figures. Final official results will be released on July 22.

Abdullah has demanded an audit of some 7,000 polling stations to check for electoral fraud. (See...


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Afghan Butchers Pose Public Health Hazard

July 9, 2014, 5:28 am
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Lack of proper regulation leads to casual slaughtering practices and sales of diseased meat.

Residents of the eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad complain that local butchers are creating a public health hazard by slaughtering animals in public places and failing to observe basic hygiene standards.

Although Jalalabad, the main city in Nangarhar province, has an abattoir, very few of the 350 butchers in the city use it, preferring to kill livestock on their own premises or in public places – in the street, by canals or near the river Behsud.

Mansur, who lives in the city, said butchers used the banks of a large canal about 300 metres away from his house as an open-air abattoir, and the waste they left created a dreadful smell.

“When the wind blows from that direction, we have to cover our noses with handkerchiefs even inside our home,” he...


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Afghan Artists Paint Hopeful Picture in Kandahar

July 10, 2014, 8:19 am
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Sales of artwork rise in southern city, where buyers seem more discerning than in Kabul.

Amateur art collector Mohammad Idris, who lives in the southern Afghanistan city of Kandahar, emerged from a gallery delighted with his latest purchase.

With the painting, a natural landscape scene, tucked under his arm, he told IWPR, “I’ve loved paintings since childhood. I liked this picture, and although it was difficult to agree on price with the shopkeeper, I finally bought it from him.

“I have a room at home for various kinds of paintings,” he continued. “It’s my passion.”

There is a long tradition of visual art in Afghanistan, but more than three decades of conflict have affected traditional disciplines like painting and calligraphy. During the Taleban era, in particular, many artworks were destroyed and artists were...


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Afghanistan's Electoral Crisis

July 10, 2014, 10:05 am
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Abdullah Abdullah (left) and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. (Photos: US embassy Kabul/Flickr)
Abdullah Abdullah (left) and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. (Photos: US embassy Kabul/Flickr)


Amid accusations of vote-rigging, analysts warn of turbulent times ahead.

The electoral crisis in Afghanistan has deepened as presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah hotly contests the validity of preliminary results announced this week.

Abdullah, a former foreign minister, claimed that massive fraud took place in the June 14 run-off vote in which he stood against former World Bank economist and finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai. The second round was needed as none of the candidates in the April 5 election won the required absolute majority.

On July 7, Ahmad Yusuf Nurestani, the chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) told a Kabul press conference that Ashraf Ghani had secured 56.4 per cent and Abdullah 44.6 per cent.

With final results due on July 22, Nurestani stressed that it would be premature to declare a winner...


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Afghans Complain of Substandard Medicines

July 11, 2014, 10:50 am
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Out-of-date and counterfeit substances pose serious threat to public health.

For eight months Iqbal, a resident of Khost in southeast Afghanistan, dutifully took the medicine his doctor had prescribed him, but his condition did not improve.

Finally, he travelled over the border to Peshawar in Pakistan and sought a second opinion. Doctors there diagnosed him with the same illness and recommended identical treatment.

“I told the doctors in Peshawar that the medicine they were giving me was the same as I’d been prescribed in Khost and which hadn’t made me recover,” Iqbal said. “When I took the [new] medicine until it was finished, I got better.”

After he returned to his Pakistani doctor and received a clean bill of health, he asked for an explanation.

“He told me that the diagnosis by the...


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