The Road To “Democracy”

“The polls were hailed as a success in the country's slow march toward democracy, although their legitimacy has been undermined by suspected ballot-box stuffing that led to the dismissal of 50 election workers, as well as alarm that more than half of the winners are former regional strongmen… In the latest violence, militants pulled a deputy provincial governor from his car and fatally shot him before killing a former district chief as he prayed in a mosque. Three policemen also were killed as the country's death toll from fighting neared 1,500 for the year, the deadliest since the Taliban's ouster in 2001. This year's death toll includes 86 U.S. troops… The $159 million elections were funded mainly by the United States and other Western countries… A number of Karzai's supporters also have violent pasts…”

- Daniel Cooney, on Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections, AP, 11/12/05.