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Afghanistan Elections Marred by Deadly Attacks
At least seven people killed in attacks across the country as Afghans vote in parliamentary elections
Officials said the attack was adjacent to a security outpost in Baghlan province. An Afghan soldier and six pro-government militia died and five people were injured.
Afghan women wait outside a polling station to cast their ballots for the parliamentary elections in Mazar-e-Sharif, Balkh province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Sept. 18, 2010. (AP Photo/ Mustafa Quraishi) There were reports of violence across the country as voters went to the polls, where about 2,500 candidates are contesting 249 seats. A rocket attack was reported in Kabul, another in the southern city of Kandahar and three rockets struck the eastern city of Jalalabad.
Concerns over violence had caused the UN to withdraw staff from the country ahead of the elections.
Previous elections have been marred by violence and widespread fraud. After the presidential election last year more than a third of votes cast for President Hamid Karzai were thrown out as fake.
The government has promised a cleaner election this year but today Reuters reported Afghan voters scrubbing their fingers clean of supposedly indelible ink in an effort to return to cast extra votes. An ink-stained fingertip is meant to mark out those who have already cast ballots in the second parliamentary election since the fall of the Taliban government in 2001.
Karzai has said irregularities were expected. By late morning, election monitors and security forces had uncovered hundreds of fake voter registration cards along with efforts to vote more than once.
Police in Kabul detained a young man who was successfully cleaning his finger outside a polling station.
An angry campaign worker demonstrated how one brand of ink could be removed with little effort. "We have to raise our voice. The black ink doesn't go, but the blue colour disappears. They should all be using the black ink, to accomplish their task properly," said Mohammed Fawad, keeping watch over the poll for one candidate in Kabul.
In western Herat city, voters who complained to officials about anti-fraud measures said they had used bleach to remove the ink. "I voted and you see my finger is washed clean of ink," said Bashir Ahmad, waving his clean digit.
There were other signs of fraud. A campaigner for the candidate Haji Abdul Latif Ahmadzai, in southern Logar province, was caught with 300 fake voter cards, security officials said.
Police said they also detained a man with 500 fake voter registration cards in eastern Jalalabad city.
In southern Helmand province, a spokesman for the provincial governor said the daughter of a female candidate had turned up at a polling station with 1,500 valid voter registration cards and tried to cast ballots on their behalf.
Security is a huge problem in Helmand, where many areas are effectively under Taliban control, and women are often forbidden from travelling to polling stations by their husbands or fathers.
In other unstable parts of the country, the Taliban persuaded many voters to stay home – but may also have given some a better reason for wanting to clean their fingers. In Logar province, just south of Kabul, the Taliban sent out letters, or anonymous warnings posted on village walls, that they would cut off any fingers marked with indelible ink.
"I don't want to go and vote because of the Taliban's intimidation. I don't want to risk my life, just for a candidate," said one Logar resident named Naveed.
Initial results are due to be announced on Wednesday with the final results expected on 31 October.
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14 Comments so far
Show All"Karzai said irregularities were expected." The claim that Pat Tillman's death was caused by the Taliban and not friendly fire [as George Carlin once pointed out, a true oxymoron] was certainly an irregularity as this short news interview with Tillman's mother, where she talks about a documentary about her son's life, makes abundantly clear.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/39229721#39229721
Afghanistan is an official "friend", like Saudi Arabia or Mexico - thus all election fraud is considered just the unfortunate messiness of Democracy.
But when far milder election irregularities happen in an official "enemy" - like Iran or Venezuela - then that is PROOF that the election is bogus and the winners have stolen it and the people are trying to throw off the hated yolk of their murderous Overlords.
The helpful corporate News providers will let you know which is which.
Saudi Arabia and elections? There's not even a charade of an election as there used to be in the former Soviet Union.
Where is Diebold when you need them the most...
The goal of the occupation of Afghanistan is to establish oil and gas pipeline routes for Big Oil to market Central Asian oil and gas throughout Asia. And this has become public debt for private corporate profit that appears very uncertain. What will it cost to occupy Afghanistan for the rest of the 21st century !
Going east directly over the mountains into Pakistan and India is out of the question. They can't even secure the road over the Kyhber Pass. It is Pashtun territory. The only other route that is possible is through western and southern Afghanistan, which is also Pashtun, but with some areas sparsely populated.
Keep in mind there are over a Billion people in India and Pakistan and they need oil and natural gas. This could be a big market for American oil corporations if they can move the oil and gas from Central Asia. Afghanistan also has proven natural gas reserves and vast mineral wealth.
The long term cost to the taxpayer for the Afghan occupation thus far is over a $Trillion and counting. In addition the cost to the taxpayer to turn Iraq into a corporate colony is now about $4 Trillion and counting. And this debt plus interest with negative and far-reaching effects on the overall American economy.
And the corporate imperialism in Afghanistan (sustained by war crimes) has nothing to do with American domestic energy needs.
The oil and gas from Central Asia via Afghanistan is for Asian markets !
So, good luck Barack Obomber and Jon ("redouble our efforts in Afghanistan) Tester, Senator from Montana !
The Pashtun resistance has just begun and America is already bankrupt !
There are many articles like this on proposed pipeline projects.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/1984459.stm
And this website is an interesting, but slightly dated, two part historic overview of corporate energy imperialism including lots of links at the end of Part II.
The New U.S.-British Oil Imperialism
http://www.oilcompanies.net/oil1.htm
This sounds like something out of Michael Rupperts' "Crossing The Rubicon". He references much of what you've explained here. These crooks have been exposed! They are not as powerful as we tend to think. They are afraid of us as they should be.
This shows that even the British Guardian can be taken in all this US power elite propaganda about "election democracy" just as the US media is today and was back when the "junta in Saigon" as Martin LUther king Jr aptly referred to it conducted that worthless sham election with the NLF not allowed any access to the election=-- not so different than back in 1980s when the junta in San Salvador had its sham election and the US media aced as cheerleaders for that travesty and insult to democracy with the rebels' political arm allowed no acess to that election At least in the Northern Ireland elections which the British government has allowed Sein Fein has been allowed full access to the election. But then those of Scots and English descent have had the ethnic Irish outnumbered there since way back.
This was probably the reason Edward Heath, a British Tory or Conservative prime minister shut down the Storemont government elected in Northern Ireland at some time in his premeirship of 1970-1974, seeing it as a deck stacked against the ethnic Irish, and thus completely unjust. London would run the show in the meantime to prevent the Unionist oriented Irish bashing types from so systematically oppressing the ethnic Irish
AD
This shows that even the British Guardian can be taken in all this US power elite propaganda about "election democracy" just as the US media is today and was back when the "junta in Saigon" as Martin LUther king Jr aptly referred to it conducted that worthless sham election with the NLF not allowed any access to the election=-- not so different than back in 1980s when the junta in San Salvador had its sham election and the US media aced as cheerleaders for that travesty and insult to democracy with the rebels' political arm allowed no acess to that election At least in the Northern Ireland elections which the British government has allowed Sein Fein has been allowed full access to the election. But then those of Scots and English descent have had the ethnic Irish outnumbered there since way back.
This was probably the reason Edward Heath, a British Tory or Conservative prime minister shut down the Storemont government elected in Northern Ireland at some time in his premeirship of 1970-1974, seeing it as a deck stacked against the ethnic Irish, and thus completely unjust. London would run the show in the meantime to prevent the Unionist oriented Irish bashing types from so systematically oppressing the ethnic Irish
AD
Elections under occupation is a farce... has absolutely no value. The whole process is corrupt. If Iran invaded and occupied us, I imagine we'd have Americans attacking the sellouts who collaborate with the Iranians for personal gain against the American people as well.
The real question is; how long will it take before the understanding sinks in that our Afghanistan adventure is a farce, doomed to defeat regardless of how long we remain there.
It is not a farce and they are never defeated! That is never a question to the war profiteers as they always win with their extraordinary,evil war profits.
After reading" Warlords and alleged killers seek re-election to Afghanistan Parliament" does this surprise any one?
Yes, it is insane to have elections during invasions.
End the war before real elections.
There is no peace without the Taliban included in the peace.
Peace can only be made with the Taliban.... no other way.
The real question is , how do these Taliban insurgents make their rockets.
Its amazing to me, that a group of unorganized ousted Taliban are able to manufacture their weapons to continue the fighting.
Or do they???
Maybe the weapons are made in a different country's. And dont say Iran , thats bullshit.
And where does the Taliban get their money to buy these weapons.
The truth is what ever they want it to be, but the truth is, this war is well funded on both sides by various interested party's that have a serious stake in terms of wether the USA should remain in Afghanistan or not, and I find it hard to believe that Al Qaeda is that well organized and funded.
Because after all, the trillions spent over the last 9 years, have put a serious dent in Al Qaeda being able to function, right??
Or is it going to take another 9 years and 6 trillion dollars to win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world so that they turn over all terrorists.