In its short history the Afghan Government has had to overcome obstacle after obstacle. With the War on Terror, the United States brought Democracy to Afghanistan. While Democracy brought forth benefits like personal freedom to the citizens of Afghanistan, it also brought forth the anger of the former regime, the Taliban, and the terrorist organization Al-Qaeda.

Despite the on-going fight to keep the Taliban out of Afghanistan, The Afghanistan Government, modeled after our own democratic republic here in the U.S., was formed.

Democratic elections were held, in which all citizens, male and female, over the age of 18 were allowed to vote. The Taliban threatened to kill voters. But despite these threats and deaths due to the actualization of those threats, the Afghan people did come out to vote, and Hamid Karzai was elected first President of Afghanistan.

Now, 4 years later, new elections are being held to determine if Karzai will remain in office or if his opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, will be the new President of Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, this election has been fraught with confusion and scandal in a way that makes 2000’s Bush-Gore fiasco look simplistic.

On August 20th of this year, Afghanistan voters came out for the nation’s second Presidential election. This day and the weeks before were filled with scattered acts of violence, care of the Taliban. The final results of election showed Karzai winning 54% of the vote.

Upon further scrutiny of the election results by the UN and the United States, it was discovered that, according to the Los Angeles Times, “neither [Karzai nor Abdullah] won the 50% plus 1 majority needed to win the first round outright” (As Afghan runoff campaign opens, Taliban again threatens voters).

What was the cause of this discrepancy? According to CNN.com, “the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission had invalidated nearly a third of Karzai’s votes from the August 20 presidential election because of ‘clear and convincing evidence of fraud’” (Karzai accepts Afghanistan election run-off).

Despite fears that Karzai is dishonest, district officials were blamed for the fraudulent votes. U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon recently said: “we will try to replace more than 200 district officials who have been implicated or who have not been following correct guidelines to make this election transparent and credible” (British Official Thinks Afghan Run-off Election Will Be Credible).

In fact, President Obama, according to CNN.com, “issued a statement praising Karzai for accepting the election results and agreeing to a second round of voting” (Karzai accepts Afghanistan election runoff).

The election is proving to be a painstakingly long process. And, according to FT.com, “if [Karzai] fails to win a clear majority, a second-round run-off between the two leading candidates would take place in early October. But some fear a second round would come under renewed attack from Taliban militants, and lead to a worsening drift in government” (Afghans vote as Taliban threats take toll).

Despite these concerns about Taliban attacks, the Afghanistan Government has the support of the United States, its soldiers, and the United Nations. Democracy may be in Afghanistan may be shaky, but many citizens seem to prefer a shaky Democracy to a stifling Taliban-controlled regime.

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