PRACTICING DEMOCRACY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 003177 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR SCA/FO, SCA/A, S/CRS STATE PASS TO USAID FOR AID/ANE, AID/DCHA/DG NSC FOR JWOOD OSD FOR MCGRAW CG CJTF-101, POLAD, JICCENT E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KDEM PGOV AF SUBJECT: PRACTICING DEMOCRACY ¶1. (SBU) As election season opens in Afghanistan, voters and politicians alike are demonstrating a stubborn enthusiasm for the still-new practice of democracy. The national mood feels dour, reflecting widespread criticism of the weaknesses of the Karzai government; frustration at the rise in kidnappings, crime, and anti-government fighting; economic anxieties; and the coming of the hardships of winter. Amid this gloom, and ignored by the international media, some 2.5 million voters since October 6 have joined the 12.4 million Afghans already on the rolls begun in 2005. In the fast-growing metropolitan area of Kabul, some 20,000 voters signed up in one day. In between grousing about the failures of the government and grappling with the reality of daily life in a poor country, Afghans are making a practical choice to have a say in their future. -------------- FROM GRASSROOTS TO POWER BROKERS, IN THE GAME -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Community leaders across the country are mobilizing to demand their right to register and vote. In Kapisa, Nuristan, and Kunar, local notables offered transportation and security guarantees to allow electoral workers to reach remote areas in these provinces. Elders from Now Zad, Baghran, and Sangeen districts in Helmand, where government presence is scarce and anti-government armed groups dominate, traveled recently to Kabul. They told the chief of the Independent Election Commission: "We promise your workers will be safe. We even asked the Taliban, and they agreed. Don't forget us." President Karzai has told us several times how "even the elders of Shindand village" (the site of a controversial civilian casualty incident in August) have come to him and pleaded for more registration teams. The security environment in many parts of the south will pose the most difficult challenges of the voter registration process, but the courage and motivation of these elders has boosted the hopes of registration organizers. ¶3. (SBU) POLITICAL leaders and their organizations are also opting into the democratic game. President Karzai put the famously competent Mohammad Atif Atmar in the Interior Ministry to "deliver results," presidential advisors say, with an eye to a coming re-election campaign. The predominately Uzbek Junbesh-e-Milli and Pashtun-centric Hizb-e-Islami Afghanistan have rallied their party members to register to vote in their regional strongholds. The United Front opposition is busy crafting a multi-ethnic slate of presidential and vice-presidential candidates to challenge Karzai. Women legislators have demanded, and received, special training on how to get out the female vote. ¶4. (SBU) The strongmen and ethnic soloists, in contrast, are bowing out. Dostum, Mohaqqeq, Rabbani, and Sayyaf look set to endorse other candidates and confine themselves to politicking on behalf of their support bases. In 2005, before the parliamentary elections, disarmament remained a distant wish. For the 2009 presidential and provincial council races, 43 of the 360-odd districts already meet government criteria for disarmament. -------------- WITH GROWING PAINS -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Four years into this democratic experiment, Afghanistan's young POLITICAL and governmental institutions remain far from fully formed, and struggle with formidable challenges from the legacy of 30 years of conflict and an ongoing and deeply-rooted insurgency. The Taliban continue to reject the constitution and use violence to try to achieve their goals. The drug trade and ensuing corruption undermine security and respect for both government and the rule of law, while the country's still-powerful old-line warlords grimly try to assert their presumed perogatives. ¶6. (SBU) The legislative and judicial branches of government are still struggling to find their balance in relationship to the traditionally strong, overwhelmingly centralized executive by demonstrating what value-added they can contribute. Provincial and local authorities are sorting out both their place in the institutional framework and their mechanisms of accountability to voters, a chore made more difficult by the President's own conflicted and often contradictory attitude toward decentralization and empowering his representatives outside Kabul. New, younger POLITICAL KABUL 00003177 002 OF 002 leaders, like Governor Mangal in Helmand, still stand back, watching and waiting for the veterans of the struggle against the Soviet Union to pass from the scene. Yet despite these complex, interlocking challenges, both polls and anecdotal evidence suggest that Afghans remain committed to democracy and determined to have their say, believing that, flaws and all, elections and democracy are the way forward. DELL