Allies Ponder How to Plan Elections in Afghanistan

By Jeremy Shaub

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/world/asia/12kabul.html?ref=world

In Afghanistan, the Afghan interior minister is trying to figure a way out to make this presidential election go smooth, but there is a problem and that is that almost half of the country is in a "danger zone." Which means out of the 364 districts, there are 10 that are under Taliban control and another 156 that are marked as high risks. And this is a big problem because the elections are in 5 months and the currently status of the districts is not to promising. But Afghan officials and NATO are going to keep pushing for the election because if they postpone it again it could show how bad the war is going and could put the country into a political and constitutional crisis. Another big worry about the election is that even if Afghan officials and NATO get enough security for election that "he vote will be so badly compromised that its credibility will be called into question." So this brings a big issue of possible voter fraud and irregularities in voter registration. But pretty much all of the districts will be voting except the 10 that are under Taliban control. This is going to be possible because of the extra soldiers NATO and America is sending to Afghanistan, but of course the Taliban retaliate these forces.