VZCZCXRO1557
PP RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #3177/01 3440538
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 090538Z DEC 08
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6367
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

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