• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

Security aides Afghan voter registration

Army News Service

By Sgt. Frank Magni

KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (Army News Service, Aug. 13, 2004) -- As the date for the Afghan presidential election draws closer, voter registration is making its final push in southern Afghanistan.

Throughout the country, more than eight of the 10 million eligible citizens have already registered, 40 percent being women. Polling day is currently scheduled for Oct. 9.

What is being hailed as a great success for the entire country, was still in doubt not more than a few months ago in the southern region of the country, said Dan Kelly, United Nations regional security officer for voter registration.

They were going to close this place down two months ago," said Kelly. "There was a lot of doubt whether the south of the country was stable enough to safely register the citizens."

Kelly said security is the primary concern for his organization.

"This process has to be done in a secure environment or it can easily lose its legitimacy," he said.

When registration began in May, Kelly and the remainder of the Joint Electoral Management Body needed assistance in terms of security. They got it from the Afghan National Police and through coordination with Coalition forces.

"It is a very difficult balance, because we couldn't use Coalition forces to take our teams out to register the voters, but they were the key to creating the conditions for successful registration," said Peter Murphy, JEMB southern region election coordinator.

Capt. Todd Schmidt, special assistant to the Combined Task Force Bronco commander, said when he and his unit began operations in Afghanistan, their focus was assisting with the elections.

"We said from the very beginning that we are here to support the (national) government of Afghanistan in any way we can," he said.

The key for not only the JEMB, but also Coalition forces was communication and synchronization to focus on the areas that needed the most security.

"We synchronize our efforts with the JEMB," said Schmidt. "We conduct operations in areas prior to registration teams moving in."

"Coalition forces would clear the area where registration teams wanted to go," said Kelly.

"After a while, we found just by the military showing up the bad guys would normally take off."

He said it also provided peace-of-mind for his teams that many times feared for their safety.

Even with the presence of ANP with the registration teams, there was still fear because of anti-Coalition propaganda efforts being conducted, in attempts to disrupt the election process and sow seeds of doubt in the minds of the populace, said Kelly.

"A lot of what my (registration) teams were being told just wasn't true," he said. "Many lives were being threatened just for assisting in the election process."

But even with the best efforts of the anti-Coalition militants, voter registration has proceeded and is gaining popularity, said Kelly.

Rona, a voter registration supervisor in Kandahar city, said her location has never been disturbed.

While she and her team register 200-300 women a day, she said the concept of the election is becoming very popular to the Afghan people.

"We are worried about the future of Afghanistan, so voting is very important to many of us," said Rona. "We are working very hard not only to bring elections, but reconstruct Afghanistan. But we need Coalition forces here to help us."

Through the work of people like Rona, more than 1.2 million people have registered in the Kandahar area.

"The number of people that have registered in Kandahar city goes to illustrate how passionate the Afghans are about these elections," said Murphy. "Some are traveling days into the city to register, because we haven't made it to their villages yet."

Murphy said even with the few weeks left to go, the voter registration process in southern Afghanistan has been a huge success.

"We are very happy with our numbers so far," he said. "But there was no way this would have happened without the Afghan National Police and Coalition forces."

JEMB's success in elections is only going to illustrate the success the Coalition forces are having in the south, in terms of providing security, said Schmidt.

"Our original mission was to 'provide enduring security,' " he said. "The success of the elections will be a large part of our report card. If we stay on the road we are on now, the elections will be a resounding success."