A bad sign in Afghanistan

It's not a good sign that virtually all of the opponents running against Afghan president Hamid Karzai are alleging widespread voter fraud.

Beyond protecting the citizens of Afghanistan who tried to go to the polls last week, the United States and its allies tried to stay out of the process itself. Maybe we should have been a little more involved in ensuring the integrity of the ballot boxes, themselves.

Stuffing ballot boxes isn't exactly anything new in that part of the world (see: Iran). But when the credibility of the United States is on the line, it can seriously undermine what we're trying to do in that country, most of which still lives in the 6th century.

Over the years, the United States has helped pull many nations it has defeated in war up by their bootstraps. Germany and Japan come to mind as two huge successes (in fact, we may have been a little too successful -- just ask the U.S. auto industry). But nowhere has the challenge to rebuild a nation been greater than in the mountains and isolated tribal cultures of Afghanistan.

The Soviet Union tried unsuccessfully to pacify that nation using the "big stick" approach. The United States is trying, as much as possible, to use the "carrot." But building schools and hospitals is one thing. Building democracy is another. You can only be saved if you want to be.

If the reports of widespread fraud turn out to be correct, then the government the United States has worked so hard to prop up will have just thumbed its nose at us. If the fraud is shown to be true, then the United States should seriously rethink its commitment. In Vietnam, we propped up fraudulent governments and dictators. We can't afford to make that mistake again.

-- Kelly Everitt