Afghans Try Their Hand at Democracy

A bearded elder named Zahid ran a bony finger down a sample ballot containing photographs of the 18 candidates for today’s Afghan presidential election. Zahid, 65, an illiterate village headman, recognized only two photos.

One was of interim President Hamid Karzai, Zahid’s personal choice. In fact, Zahid said, he has ordered all 160 registered voters in this arid camp of Kuchi nomads to vote for Karzai. That includes the women, whom Zahid said he might allow to cast ballots -- if accompanied by their husbands and told how to vote.

The electoral practices of this village headman illustrate both the potential and the limitations of the first presidential election in Afghanistan, where voting began early today with long lines in some places and difficulties elsewhere.

After a quarter of a century of conflict, a nation dominated by warlords and conservative tribal elders is attempting to select a leader from candidates who themselves are either warlords or beholden to them.

This is an election in which ballots are delivered by donkeys and camels -- and U.S. attack helicopters. Nearly 70% of voters are illiterate, and only a fraction have been instructed in how to vote (by writing a mark next to a candidate’s photo). Office seekers are under constant threat of assassination. It will take two to three weeks to count all the ballots by hand.

Women are permitted to vote -- in separate booths -- but many will stay home because of intimidation by local thugs or their own husbands and brothers. Candidates did not campaign widely, but instead cut deals with tribal leaders who promised to deliver blocs of votes. Thousands of people registered more than once, and warlords or tribal leaders confiscated many voting cards. There were also complaints that the ink put on voters’ hands to prevent them from voting twice was not indelible.

“We could get this off easily,” said Wahida, a teacher in Kabul.

At the Women’s Ministry in the capital, there was only a trickle of female voters, but an election official said she thought more would show up later.

A line of about 300 men snaked around the outer yard at the Jamat Khana Mosque in western Kabul, waiting to be let inside to vote in groups of 10.

“I want to vote for a person who will disarm the warlords and bring us peace,” said Mohammed Asif, 65.

About half an hour after voting began, 14 volunteer workers waited outside a polling place near Bagram, with no ballots or boxes or explanation of why they hadn’t arrived.

Managers at each polling station have the option to extend voting into Sunday if they believe people have not been able to vote.

Only about 230 international observers dared to come, a fraction of the number for elections in El Salvador and South Africa. Of 16,000 Afghan observers, 12,000 are partisan political operatives. Twelve election workers have been killed, and the threat of attacks by the Taliban and Al Qaeda is expected to frighten away some voters.

And yet, even the most pessimistic critics concede that the election is a milestone for a poor, isolated nation with no history of participatory democracy.

“Even if they try to blow up the polling station or put a gun to my head, I’ll still vote,” said Mohammed Akram Ahmad, 54, a Kabul radiologist.

Karzai, who came to power as America’s handpicked favorite, is expected to attract the most votes. But attempts by his rivals to consolidate their campaigns may deny Karzai the more than 50% total needed to avoid a runoff. The number of candidates dropped to 16 on Wednesday when two threw their support to the interim president.

Human Rights Watch has issued two detailed and harshly critical election reports. One concluded that jangsalaran -- the Dari and Pashto word for warlords -- are a far greater threat to a free and fair election than the Taliban or Al Qaeda. The second report said intimidation of women is so endemic that they constitute fewer than 10% of registered voters in several southern districts.

Of the official tally of 10.5 million registered voters, 59% are men. Ballots were to be cast at 4,807 polling centers containing 21,521 voting stations run by 120,000 freshly trained Afghan election workers. About 1.3 million Afghan refugees have registered in Iran and Pakistan.

No matter who wins, the new president’s authority will not extend far beyond Kabul. Karzai has little authority outside the capital. He has been undermined by his appointees -- particularly former Cabinet member Younis Qanooni, who is running against him, and Defense Minister Mohammed Qassim Fahim, who openly defies Karzai while maintaining a private army.

In a survey of 1,500 Afghans last year by a consortium of Afghan and international groups, 43% said the most important issue was establishing security by disarming militias and creating a professional police force and army. Just 7% cited the need for expanded political rights.

At the Chinzai camp outside Kabul, warlords were very much on the mind of Zahid and his fellow elders. They have no electricity, no schools and no running water. They own no television sets to follow the campaign and have a single battery-powered radio in the camp of 230 people, 150 sheep and 60 cows.

They said they were voting for Karzai in part because they hoped he would restore grazing lands they said had been appropriated by various warlords. The Kuchi are a nomadic tribe whose most valuable possessions are livestock. A delegation recently visited Karzai and cut a deal to deliver Kuchi votes, the headmen said.

Malik Lialia, 61, a sunburned elder in a grease-stained robe, studied a sample ballot. He recognized only Karzai until he reached the last candidate photo, of Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum.

“I don’t know his name,” Lialia said, “but he stole our sheep once.”

Moments later, Lialia seemed alarmed when he noticed that one of the candidates was a woman, Dr. Massouda Jalal.

“Oh, this is bad -- very bad,” Lialia said. “This is the first I’ve heard of this. A woman should never be president. No one should be allowed to vote for a woman.”

There was one more issue on the elders’ minds: security. They worried about being attacked at the local voting center -- an hour’s walk away -- and they complained that someone had poisoned their rice stocks, sickening dozens of Kuchis.

The Taliban has issued unsigned leaflets known as “night letters” warning voters that they or their relatives will be killed if they attempt to vote. Elders of the Terezai tribe announced on a radio station in Khowst, in eastern Afghanistan, that the houses of tribe members who did not vote for Karzai would be burned.

Election security is in the hands of 48,000 Afghan police officers and 13,000 members of the U.S.-trained Afghan army. But the true stabilizing force remains more than 20,000 U.S. and allied soldiers backed by airpower. Those troops were out in force early today.

Because Afghan security forces are unable to exert authority nationwide, election officials have been forced to rely on fighters controlled by warlords. These “Afghan militia forces,” AMF, which work closely with the U.S. military, were to provide security at some polling centers.

In Zabol province, where U.S. and Afghan forces clash almost daily with Taliban and allied guerrillas, men and women ran to line up when the polls opened in the town of Qalat. Several hundred were in line in the first hour, despite a blinding dust storm.

Organizers said only two of the province’s 35 polling stations opened on time, and police warned that any place outside central Qalat -- where U.S. soldiers were on patrol -- was not secure.

A police commander complained this week to Gov. Khial Mohammed Hussaini that he didn’t have enough men to protect voting stations.

“You have a lot of men,” the governor replied. “Work hard. Check everyone you have doubts about. Check with women in burka [head-to-toe coverings] and men in turbans. Whenever you say stop and someone doesn’t stop, shoot him.”

Afghans are still learning the rudimentary tenets of democracy. Voter education teams have fanned out across the country since July.

A private group, the International Foundation for Elections Systems, has held 9,000 sessions for 317,000 voters. Director Ed Morgan said the most difficult concepts are voting for only one candidate and the secret ballot. Many voters fear they will be punished for voting against the wishes of local power brokers.

Last week, during a session at a tuberculosis clinic in Kabul, an instructor named Mahdi -- many Afghans use just one name -- displayed the picture charts to about 50 men and women. Afterward, a few asked Mahdi whom they should vote for.

Mahdi said he told them to choose the candidate they believe is honest, security-conscious and not biased in favor of any ethnic group.

Despite the tenuous security situation, Mahdi said, his audience did not express concern for personal safety.

“These people have survived years of war,” he said as the men and women filed separately from a clinic conference room. “They have a strong drive to vote. They know this is a historic moment.”

Times staff writers John Daniszewski and Paul Watson and special correspondent Hamida Ghafour contributed to this report.