Elections...

One of the big upcoming challenges facing Afghanistan is how to actually pull off a major election. You may have noticed some of the discourse in the papers this past week as Karzai attempted to pull a smooth one and hold them early. It was a win-win, either all agree and he has a significant advantage over incumbents who are just now surfacing, or it is held in August, but he appears to be a guardian of the Constitution by trying to hold them within the mandated timeframe.

The numbers are pretty impressive, there will be 7,000 polling centers with 20,000 total stations. While that may not sound too overwhelming for those of you used to working at the macro level. That means the IEC alone will be training over 150,000 individuals. Of greater significance as the international coalition is attempting to empower the Afghans, by instilling faith in their system of governance, is figuring out a way to ensure that each of these locations is safe and secure. This is beyond the capacity of their police or their military and if we were to reallocate some of the international coalition's armed forces to work on this at the levels necessary, a great deal of territory would have the security compromised. This will be one of the key benefits to having the 17,000 soldier surge coming in the next few months. Some time exists, but the planning is just beginning and it will be quite challenging due to the complexities involved of finding ways for Afghan forces to provide some security and for coalition forces to do the same but in a way that Afghans know they are in control.

Granted, in the US, we have a lot of work to do as we find ways to make our machines more accountable, our processes smoother, and our people more engaged, but we should be grateful that some of the basic issues here have not been concerns since the first major elections were held. Much luckier than most countries.

Peace...