Growing women’s political participation is one of the few bright spots arising from Afghanistan’s flawed election, the Hudson Institute’s Richard Weitz reports. He cites recent analysis based on tracking by the National Democratic Institute.
“I don’t think that there is any doubt that, since the end of Taliban rule, Afghan women have made significant progress in political participation,” said Raissa Tatad-Hazell, NDI Senior Program Manager for Asia. “But I think there is also no doubt that there have been, and continue to be, so many challenges to promoting women’s equitable participation in all these processes.”
The biggest mistake in the recent election was handing supervision over to an election commission that was effectively beholden to incumbent President Mohamed Karzai, writes Ahmed Rashid. An October runoff may restore some credibility to the democratic process if that poll is better supervised, but it will leave the country paralyzed and aggravate ethnic tensions.
“We can expect local conflicts, assassinations, and a breakdown in law and order—while the Taliban will further justify their condemnation of democracy as an infidel conspiracy,” he contends. The best option is to pressure Karzai to accept a government of national unity would include opposition candidates.
Recent Comments