The Afghan Election, Tribal Democracy

Are you bored with the U.S. elections? Do you want to know everything about the presidential elections in Afghanistan? Well you can find it in a piece by Andisheh Nouraee in Atlanta's own Creative Loafing.

Campaigning has officially begun for Afghanistan's first-ever free presidential election on Oct. 9. The duties of the Afghan president, as spelled out in the Afghan constitution ratified earlier this year, are similar to the duties of an American president, with a touch of European-style prime minister thrown in. The Afghan president will be commander-in-chief of the Afghan armed forces, enforce the nation's laws, nominate its ministers and high court judges, pardon criminals, hand out ribbons, and throw out the ceremonial "first carcass" at Buzkashi matches. Buzkashi is Afghanistan's national sport. It's played by two competing teams of men on horseback trying to carry a decapitated goat or calf carcass around a flag before depositing in the "circle of justice." And, no, I did not make any of that up. Imagine polo as conceived by Genghis Khan.

Afghanistan's election and its presidency do, however, differ from ours in some important ways. For example, instead of having to choose between just two candidates, Afghanistan has 18 presidential candidates. Another big difference is that, unlike in the United States, the Afghan candidate who receives the most votes actually wins the election.

Enthusiasm for the election among Afghans is incredibly high. When I say "incredibly," I mean that it nearly lacks credibility. Ten-and-a-half million Afghans are registered to vote in the election, even though the United Nations thought just a couple of months ago that there were only 9.8 million eligible voters. That discrepancy is the result of two big factors. First, 30 years of brutal war put census taking on the back burner, so any nationwide population figures for Afghanistan are merely educated guesses.

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Of the 18 candidates vying for the job, current interim President Hamid Karzai is thought to be the front-runner. His strengths: He's well regarded internationally, and he's a Pashtun, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group. His weaknesses are, well, he's well regarded internationally and he's a Pashtun. His ties to the United States (he ascended to the presidency in 2002 with a nod and a wink from us) have made him the target of at least one assassination attempt and an enemy of the deposed Taliban (also, incidentally, Pashtuns) and their al-Qaeda cohorts. As for Karzai's ethnicity, in a country that's essentially tribal, it's nearly impossible for a leader from one ethnic group to earn the trust of the people from another.

And maybe the world can learn from this election.

To prevent election-centered violence and fraud, NATO has promised to boost its troop presence in Afghanistan from 6,500 to 10,000. Maybe if it works, we can get them to come to Florida afterward.

Of course with all the hurricanes we may need NATO to find Florida in November.