2014 Afghan Elections

[Aria2013]

As international presence scales down, Afghanistan’s upcoming election is seen as vital to the country’s stability and peace beyond 2014. Moreover, this election will mark the transfer of power from one elected president to another elected President for the first time in Afghanistan’s history. Therefore, it will be closely monitored by Afghans all around the world as they elect their next leaders. At the same time the elections have caused some concern that the US may interfere in the election process by supporting a specific candidate. US officials, however, have made it very clear that the U.S. will not endorse a specific candidate but will support the democratic process of having a transparent, inclusive, and legitimate election. In February, US Ambassador James Cunningham told Afghan media that Afghanistan’s Presidential elections is of special importance and the US will support it to ensure it runs successful. He told the Afghan press that “the United States is ready to do everything we can to support the success of the election. We encourage all the election’s stakeholders, the government, the opposition, and civil societies to work closely together in the interests of the Afghan nation.”

A fair election clearly is vital for the future of Afghanistan. What do Afghans see as the biggest challenge in the upcoming 2014 elections?

Aria2013
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Read More: http://tolonews.com/en/afghanistan/9...andidate-envoy

[$hiva]

I want the foreign troops to leave Afghanistan and after that happens, so will the people who have benefited from the foreigners. The people who have benefited from the foreigners are the ones responsible for corruption and all the ills that Afghanistan face today.

With Afghanistan left to those who actually live there and have their children there, there is bound to be a will to make the Afghan democracy work.

[Aria2013]

2014 Afghan Elections

I want the foreign troops to leave Afghanistan and after that happens, so will the people who have benefited from the foreigners. The people who have benefited from the foreigners are the ones responsible for corruption and all the ills that Afghanistan face today.

With Afghanistan left to those who actually live there and have their children there, there is bound to be a will to make the Afghan democracy work.

With U.S. troops withdrawing and a flourishing democracy and participation in a political, economic, and security transition, Afghans have taken a significant step forward and reached a critical milestone since 2001. Every day we witness the commitment and success of Afghan National Security forces as they work tirelessly to defend their nation and protect the people. However, Afghanistan will still need the assistance of the international community for some time to come. As U.S. officials have previously stated, the continued presence of the international community politically, in development, and in security is necessary to sustain the progress that has been made thus far. True, corruption is a major concern and one of the challenges Afghanistan is faced with, but without proper procedures and institutions developed, it will be very difficult to combat it.

How do you foresee Afghanistan become a self-sufficient nation without the help of the international community?

Aria
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[Shamlawar Khurasani]

Aria, where is you fellow sit-com employee Atal/Hashmat?

[$hiva]

How do you foresee Afghanistan become a self-sufficient nation without the help of the international community?

By dividing Afghanistan into north and south. Afghanistan is not a country, its a prison where many different people are forced to coexist.

[KGODB]

By dividing Afghanistan into north and south. Afghanistan is not a country, its a prison where many different people are forced to coexist.

of course

the solution to all of our problems

[waterbear_waterbear]

I'm Pakistani Pashtun, i wan't to vote for Afghanistan but the durrand line won't let me, so i was stuck with ****ty candidates like Imran Khan and Nawaz Sharif....

[waterbear_waterbear]

By dividing Afghanistan into north and south. Afghanistan is not a country, its a prison where many different people are forced to coexist.

By dividing Pakistan into North, South, East and West. Pakistan is not a country, its a prison where many different people are forced to coexist. BTW merge North of Pakistan with South of Afghanistan and you actually have a real country, a real nation that can develop and be prosperous.

[waterbear_waterbear]

Here's the tip. The Afghan elections won't do anything, unless if it's about the Durand line. But every Afghan leader in the election wants to deal with the Durrand line, unless if they're Tajiks and Hazaras Pussies afraid of Pakistani Pashtuns....

Yes, Punjabis, Sindhis, Balochis and Pashtuns have a common history, but relative to Afghan Pashtuns, how common does their heritage get? Ask Pashtuns, " Would you want to be with other Pashtuns or stick with Punjabis?"

To me, Tajiks and Punjabis are the same civilized urban folk ... So are Hazaras, wait, are Hazaras nomadic like their mongol ancestors or Urban like Persians???

[MostafaM]

By dividing Afghanistan into north and south. Afghanistan is not a country, its a prison where many different people are forced to coexist.

Thanks for your opinion but I think the Casinos of Las Vegas should be your concerne and not how Afghanistan manages it´s internal affairs.

A split along the north-south axis won´t change anything because the ethnic problem is not a south-north problem but Pashtuns live in large areas in the north, too, and the Hazaras lie geographically on the center line.

There are huge pockets of Fariswans in the south and east, too.

There is no way that people will leave property, land and their roots without a fight and move somewhere else just because fascists with too much time on their hands who have left the country 30 years ago overcompensate their short comings in the west by influencing and igniting ethnic hatred on an ideological level and try to plant it in the Afghan sociaty.

If it comes to another civil war and I hope it doesn´t then the outcome is clear already. Will be the same as in the last 1000 years.


And by the way:
you can´t FORCE people to COEXIST!
The very fact that coexistence is and has always been tolerated by Afghans/Pashtuns means that every minority had every right to speak their language and live according to their own culture.
Coexistence can´t be forced on people.

Assimilation is forced on people and when I hear stupid comments by fascistoid people like you, I curse my ancestors for being the tolerant people that they were.
If every kala-khaam and Amur-Darya-Jumper would have been forced to attach themselves to Afghan language and culture we wouldn´t have the fragmented state that we have today.

[Aria2013]

By dividing Afghanistan into north and south. Afghanistan is not a country, its a prison where many different people are forced to coexist.

Afghans from varies tribes and backgrounds have coexisted for thousands of years and they will continue to do so. All you have to do is look back at its history.

[Khilji]

Afghans from varies tribes and backgrounds have coexisted for thousands of years and they will continue to do so. All you have to do is look back at its history.

but the afghans looking forward they have not forgotten how the so called afghans- tajiks hazara uzbeks divided afghanistan into little warlord provincess.

[Khostai]

This ellections and the new precident will mean nothing, have you even seen who is runing for the precedancy??? They are no better that what Karzai is.

[Aria2013]

This ellections and the new precident will mean nothing, have you even seen who is runing for the precedancy??? They are no better that what Karzai is.

I have seen it. So what do you think would be good for Afghanistan?

Aria2003
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[Aria2013]

Women's Participation in 2014 Elections

Women represent half of the population, and, according to the United Nations Development Program, approximately 15.7 percent of the labor force in Afghanistan. Therefore, women’s participation in all aspects of society including the upcoming election is critical to the development and progress of the country. In the past decade their increased participation in politics has been held up as a major achievement for women’s rights since the fall of the Taliban. At present about 27.6 percent of seats in the Afghan Parliament are held by women, and although the current environment represents many challenges for women, it also provides opportunities which have largely been driven by women’s participation in politics.

Projects like “Increasing Women’s Political Participation and Dialogue Opportunities in Afghanistan” launched by The Asia Foundation along with the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan, women Members of the Parliament and the Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs aim to ensure women’s visibility as voters and candidates in the electoral processes. The project will also provide training to women members of parliament, provincial councilors, and potential women candidates to deliver campaign messages, facilitate networking, and organize mentoring events with public figures and civil society organizations in order to encourage women to run in the upcoming elections.

Will lack of female representation undermine the legitimacy of the 2014 elections?

And, do you agree that successful elections are impossible to reach without the active participation of women?

Aria2013
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