There are days that I want to hide from the virtual world because of the devastating stories flooding the news about Afghanistan, a place where I spent the first 30 years of my life and where my family lives today. Then there are days that I don’t want log on to my Facebook account because I’m afraid of becoming desensitized to the ubiquitous death and violence.
Then there are days like April 5th that I couldn’t be more proud of the resilience of Afghans.
This day will mark the first step toward a transfer of power through a ballot rather than a bullet for the first time in Afghanistan’s history. Bravo! Generation upon generation of Afghans were born and died in hopes of witnessing this day. The investment of a decade-plus in Afghanistan by Afghans, Afghan returnees, foreign aid workers, military personnel and American taxpayers to help Afghans and Afghanistan is paying off now. I believe the world deserves to hear this.
Words are insufficient to express the joy I share with my fellow Afghans-those Afghans with purple fingers. The incredible turnout at the polling stations shocked doubters and spectators. The message was clear-Afghans went to the polls to demonstrate to each other, the Taliban, their handlers and the world that democracy has begun to take root in Afghanistan in an unprecedented way. Afghans showed that they believe in the power of the vote. The previous oppressors of the Afghan people should learn a lesson from this massive turnout-they don’t have a story to sell to Afghans. The collective Afghan voices echoed the rejection of the Taliban several millionfold. No, there is no going back. The Taliban are done.
I feel like shaking hands with all those whose fingers are dyed purple and congratulating them for their courage. They are truly the heroes of Afghanistan. Making such an incredible feat possible were the Afghan National Security Forces, which played a major role in this historic event and undoubtedly deserve boisterous applause. They worked around the clock five weeks prior to the election to make sure men and women could go to the polling stations and decide their future leaders.
There were reportedly thousands of planned attacks (small and big) on civilians and polling stations throughout Afghanistan by the Taliban and other insurgent groups. The National Directorate of Security reported 262 would-be suicide bombers were arrested during these five weeks. They also defused 65 suicide bombs throughout the country by those insurgents who so eagerly plotted to sabotage the election. The unrecognized heroes are also the soldiers, both Afghan and foreign forces, who have sacrificed their lives. April 5th clearly showed that their sacrifices were not in vain.
So, this is what happened: Afghan men, women, young, old, blind, paralyzed, handicapped, Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs woke early in the morning, hiked to polling stations, stood in line in every kind of weather to cast their vote. As expected, they had to extend the voting time an extra hour to accommodate all those still waiting in line. The number of voters was so overwhelming that some voting stations ran out of ballot paper and purple ink.
International analysts, political pundits and some journalists (including those for a Time magazine cover story) should be ashamed of their dismal predictions about the election. Afghans lining up at the polls put them to shame. My family, who went to vote, say it was a celebratory feeling-like a Nawrooz (Persian New Year). Some men put on their best suits and ties to go and vote! More than 7 million registered voters cast their votes; 35percent were women-60 percent of the registered voters throughout the country. Take that, Taliban!
So Afghans voted. Round one is completed. The Afghan people have sent a strong message to the Taliban and their handlers that their tyranny has expired.
Round two is about to begin. This is critical. It’s when those who beat their chests with “we believe in democracy” have to demonstrate that they can put that slogan into practice. If they are not the majority, they should gracefully accept that decision in order to play their next vital role in the new government, to be a critic of the government, to play the role of checks and balances until the next election in five years.
Quite honestly, we do not have a loser in this election between the two or three top candidates. The Taliban are the losers. For the first time in the history of Afghanistan, our history books will mark election instead of assassination or coup d’état as an historic end to a presidency. All three front-runners are well-educated and carry the title “doctor” in front of their names. In the past, Afghanistan has suffered because of the poor decisions made by the so-called educated. Let’s not betray the Afghan nation again. Let’s show the nation that the educated, the literate, and the doctors are not thugs or butchers.
Some saw April 5th as a mere election. I believe it is much more than an election. It was as much about rejecting the Taliban and their ideology as it was and is about the electing of a new president.
If the election does not go into a runoff, the final results would be announced May 14th of this year. Afghans are eagerly counting days to find out who is going to lead Afghanistan for the next five years.
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Khalid Ahmadzai will graduate from the Fulbright College at the University of Arkansas this year with a degree in international relations and Middle Eastern studies.
Editorial, Pages 11 on 04/14/2014