(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
On Wednesday, the pre-election campaign started in Afghanistan. 40 million ballots have been printed in Austria and the United Kingdom, flowed into Russian Antonov AN 124. Ink, which is not to be washed by the thumb, has flown in from Canada. Spread across the country by plane, car, donkey or on foot. 5800 candidates, of whom 582 are women. But how to build a democracy?
Norway has found it timely to strengthen security at its embassy in Kabul. Despite all reports so far, the majority of international forces have been in Kabul, just to secure the embassies. And business.
And Norwegian aid organizations have found it best to dismantle the sign above the entrance, Norwegian… Aid Because not everyone has understood that is typically norwegian to be good. Even the UN has to apologize. Because it is no longer possible to separate de from In .
The United States, the chief here, NATO, who heads the international coalition, and the UN, are all relying on the upcoming parliamentary election, wolesi jirga, which is scheduled for September 18. Already postponed twice, and few will put their hat on it this time either. But when two weeks ago JEMB, the committee set to run the election, announced that they were still missing $ 32 million, the money came faster than they did when it became clear that children were dying of food shortages in Niger.
Because we want to go home. But it is a good practice to clean and wash after you leave. And take the garbage out. But without a people-elected parliament in the back, President Hamid Karzai becomes little more than a puppet. Where the threads that guide him are more than visible.
But how did we actually do this, build democracy? Eidsvold? Karlstad? Or was it Halden? 100 years long. And Americans are learning a lesson; not everyone is satisfied with one tea company in Boston, if they dislike an occupant, read: colonial power.
Conservative estimates say 900 people have been killed in action so far this year. Last year it went with a total of 700. But now we want to go home. And not least the Americans, who perhaps most want more of theirs in Iraq. They first said 2002. Last year they said "next year". Now they are repeating themselves: "next year".
But how did we actually do this? The parliamentary elections were canceled by many, unless more soldiers were flown in to monitor the voting. The soldiers came. Now it is no longer just the Americans who venture outside the capital. In the north and west, soldiers of other nationalities patrol. In the southeast, there is still a "wild west", a job for Americans and recent Afghan recruits.
But the road home is often longer than the road out. For Afghanistan is not just mountains and deserts; it is also a solid quagmire. "Afghanistan is a 20-year watchdog," said Canadian General Andrew Leslie. He has just over a thousand subjects in Afghanistan, and can therefore not promise to come home immediately. Not even next year.
He does not hide the problem: "for every one you kill, you create 15 new ones who will hate you", he recently told CBC. But how did we do this now? By law should the land be built? But then we must at least have a parliament, which can pass these laws. And a judiciary that can enforce the laws. And a people who believe in them.
At the same time, Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf finally sees the opportunity to get rid of these last 150.000 Afghan refugees he has resided in refugee camps in the west of the country since the Soviet Union found it too good to invade Afghanistan in December 1979. The powerful union lasted only 10 years in the country. Without ever trying to build any democracy.
But the Afghan refugees have been established after 25 years abroad and need a little more time to pack, than the deadline Musharraf has given them; August 31st. And besides, it's not that simple. For Pashtuns on the Pakistani side are no less Pashtuns than the Pashtuns who came from Afghanistan. The Afghan refugees "came to their own". "Unfortunately, all attempts to bring the state of Pakchunkwa back to Afghanistan have failed," Pakistani Zartasha Qaisar Khan, an employee of the Norwegian Refugee Council, pointed out to Ny Tid in the early summer.
The border between the two countries was drawn by the British. They spent almost 200 years on not to build a democracy, but rather the opposite. If "we" manage to build a democracy in Afghanistan in 20 years, "we" should end up in the history books, not just as an invading power and occupier.