Afghanistan holds landmark elections

[Montgomery Burns]

Congratulations Afghanistan. I see the turnout was well. I apologize for the Western far-left doing everything in their power to see you from becoming free and being able to have elections.

And congratulations to the Afghani women on voting. Your days of being stoned to death in soccer stadiums are over.

[Montgomery Burns]

Election officials claim that 80 to 85% of the 12 million registered voters voted. Can anyone doubt that democracy has taken root in Afghanistan, and that its appeal truly crosses all cultural and economic lines? Contrast these numbers with the mediocore response to the rigged Egyptian election, which only attracted less than 20% of eligible voters. People know the difference.

The anti-war left (who held an anti-war protest 11 days after 9-11) are proven wrong again.

[Riverwind]

The anti-war left (who held an anti-war protest 11 days after 9-11) are proven wrong again.

Sorry, the vast majority of people opposed to the Iraq war were in favour of going into Afganistan because there was a directly link between the 9/11 attacks and Afganistan. However, Bush more or less abandoned the country because of his obession with Iraq so if democracy takes root in Afganistan it is thanks to the multinational effort that has picked up the pieces left by the Americans.

That said, the country is still largely controlled by warlords and it remains to be seen whether this democratic exercise will result in any real changes.

[Montgomery Burns]

Leftist anti-war rally gains pace in New York City on September 19, 2001

Naomi Braine...is one of the organisers of protests against the war. "This is going to be different from any other anti-war movement since World War II," she said. "We will really be a minority voice." Around 400 anti-war ac tivists have already attended a vigil in Washington and there were anti-war placards carried on a rally in Brooklyn last Sunday night called by Arab-Americans and attended by around 1,000 people. Robert Jensen, a professor at the University of Texas, has been coordinating resistance at the college to military strikes since last week. "I have been called a traitor more times in the last four days than in my whole life," he said. "I have also had many offers of one-way tickets to Afghanistan." But he believed there was a greater number of people opposed to the war than suggested by the television reports and polls.

And the majority of troops and nation builders in Iraq are American. But I'm not terribly surprised that you would try to take credit away from the US and President Bush...

[Black Dog]

They voted? Bully for them. Doesn't mean much. Until Afghanistan has a functioning, legal (nearly half of Afghanistan's gross domestic product now derives from the poppy/heroin trade) economy and basic institutions, there's nothing really for a parliament to do.

That said, it would be nice to see Afghanistan succeed on its own terms. I just happen to doubt the possibility of success of a modern, western construct (democracy) on a country mired in the stone age.

[Montgomery Burns]

Good old Black Dog.

Always the picture of optimism.