Afghanistan’s election success

The war against radical Islamic jihadists will be long and fought on many fronts. The Bush administration is using military, diplomatic, law enforcement and legal efforts to bring the terrorists to justice and progress is being made.

So much progress is being made in fact that the next phase of the war began last weekend. It wasn’t a military operation by soldiers and Marines in Iraq; nor was it a new offensive by John Ashcroft or Tom Ridge here at home.

This new phase of the war against radical Islamic jihadists was launched by about 8 million Afghans who went to the polls, under threat of death by Taliban and al Qaeda sympathizers, to freely vote for interim President Hamid Karzai or one of his 15 opponents. It was the first free election in the nation’s history.

Though Afghanis have previously attempted Westernization, never before have they experienced the responsibility of electing their own leaders as they did Oct. 9.

In 1926, Afghan king Amanullah tried to decrease the power of militant religious leaders, but he was quickly deposed. His cousin, Muhammad Nadir Khan, tried to continue the reforms but was assassinated. Throughout the rest of the 20th century, Afghanis continued chafing under regional warlords.

For the last 25 years, Afghanistan has been at war. Soviet troops invaded in 1979 and for 10 years fought the mujaheedin. By 1996, fundamentalist students calling themselves “the Taliban” fought their way to power and subjected Afghanis to a particularly harsh form of Islamic law.

Under that regime al Qaeda set up terrorist training camps that produced terrorists who would attack the World Trade Center during the Clinton years, kill 19 sailors aboard the USS Cole and carry out the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Just three short years later, the Taliban has been toppled, the training camps are gone and the Afghan people rejoice that their U.S. liberators have given power to their voices.

They showed their appreciation by trekking to one of the 4,800 polling sites in public buildings or mountain rest areas. In some places, there was more than a foot of snow on the ground.

Voters turned out in the early morning, well before the polls opened, and waited up to 3 or 4 hours to cast that historic ballot. Many citizens marked the occasion by donning their best clothes and waited in lines that stretched nearly 2 miles.

The Afghan Army and National Police, by all accounts, did a great job providing security for voters and preventing major terrorist attacks. But the day was not without minor incident. In Konduz, a group of women were in line to vote when an explosive occurred a few hundred yards away. They didn’t move. To do so, they reasoned, would give the terrorists a victory.

After all, these women like millions of others in Afghanistan, have, in the just three years, progressed from being treated like chattel to where they are helping to decide the future and fate of their country. When Afghanis learned they could select their leaders, public interest in the election soared. Said one prospective female voter, “I want a leader of my choice.”

A poll for the Asia Foundation found 81 percent of Afghanis — women included — intended to vote. And 125,000 citizens signed up every day, despite Taliban threats to injure or kill voter registrants. Not even the pessimists at the United Nations or the Kerry campaign could dampen their spirits — 77 percent of Afghans believed elections would help their nation.

Though Taliban remnants vowed revenge against participants, Afghanis bravely and defiantly cast their ballots to prove they are ready to govern their destiny. Voting in overwhelming numbers, Afghanistan’s citizens sent a message to Taliban leaders and terrorists throughout the region that they are thankful for, and support, U.S. efforts to rid their land of evil.

U.S. Army Maj. Scott Nelson said: “Terrorists… suffered a resounding defeat at the hands of millions of Afghans voting for freedom.”

Sen. John Kerry, who poses as a sort of “International Dale Carnegie” failed to recognize this historic achievement by the Afghan people. It’s a pattern with Mr. Kerry.

Prior to his snub of the Afghan elections, he belittled Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi minutes after Mr. Allawi’s address to a joint session of Congress in which he thanked Americans for liberating his people from a brutal tyrant.

Mr. Kerry was also taken to task by Polish Prime Minister Alexander Kwasniewski for failing to recognize the Polish contribution in Iraq. “It is really sad,” Mr. Kwasniewski said, “that a senator with 20 years of experience does not notice the Polish input into the coalition and the Polish sacrifice…. It is something immoral not to note the commitment which we embarked upon.”

The Afghan achievement is enormous and Mr. Kerry and the media sat on the sidelines as history passed by. It’s their loss.

But they’ll have another chance to recognize a truly historic achievement when Iraq’s people get the chance the Afghanis had. Free elections will take place there and the world will be better off when they do.

Oliver North is a nationally syndicated columnist and the founder and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance.