BAGRAM, Afghanistan -- In Afghanistan's upcoming presidential vote, perception is everything. The Taliban want to create a climate of fear and instability; the Afghan government wants to dispel concerns about electoral fraud. And the U.S. military, for its part, wants to avoid the perception that it is pulling the strings.
That's not an easy task: Insurgents have threatened to disrupt the balloting, and U.S. and coalition forces will be on call to provide backup on election day. The authorities are planning to open nearly 7,000 polling stations, and hundreds of polling centers, particularly in the country's volatile south, are considered to be in danger.
On Wednesday, I had the chance to attend an election security planning meeting for Parwan Province, a relatively secure part of north-central Afghanistan that is the home to a major U.S. military base, Bagram Airfield. The meeting was attended by Afghan army and police commanders, representatives of the State Department and the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, members of Afghanistan'sIndependent Election Commission and Provincial Governor Abdul Basir Salangi. Task Force Gladius, which is responsible for security in this key region, played host.
The main message? Afghans are supposed to take the lead -- and the U.S. and coalition forces want to keep a low profile. Army Maj. Chris Whitmer, operations officer for the 82nd Division Special Troops Battalion (DSTB), Task Force Gladius, stressed that there would be a minimal foreign presence around polling stations. "The first line of response around a polling site is the Afghan National Police," she said. "Then the ANA [Afghan National Army], then coalition forces. So we will be present -- but we'll be in the background."
Still, the Afghans are relying heavily on U.S. assistance, especially when it comes to logistics. Reaching some of the more remote polling stations will be a major challenge: Election monitors and ballot boxes need transporting, and the central government often has trouble allocating resources of its own. As Salangi complained, "When we ask the Ministry of Interior to send us some water, they say, 'You have a PRT [coalition provincial reconstruction team], ask them!'"
During the meeting, the Afghans engaged in a spirited discussion about closing times at ballot stations. Lt. Col. Christopher Eubank, commander of the 82nd DSTB, told the Afghans: "Everyone needs to remember that the official closing time at the polling center is 4:00. If it's a long walk, they need to get stepping early!"
It's also a reminder that, despite the surge of new troops to Afghanistan, the mission here is still constrained. In a discussion about helicopter flights, Eubank made it clear that he wanted some decisions from the Afghans, and soon. "Everybody in RC-East [the regional command for eastern Afghanistan] is competing for the same helicopters," he said. "They need to tell us sooner rather than later, because once again, resources are finite."
[PHOTO: Nathan Hodge]
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