NATO’s senior civilian representative Mr. Dominic Medley has said the Afghan Government must ensure free, fair and transparent elections for continued international assistance. Addressing a press conference in Kabul, he said the government must make serious efforts against corruption and improve governance. He added that Kabul had promised at the Chicago and Tokyo conferences to improve rule of law, better governance, fight corruption and conduct timely smooth elections free and fairly.

Mr. Dominic said the international community’s continued support and assistance in Afghanistan is critically connected to free and fair elections that ensures smooth transfer of power. He urged the Government to make all out efforts for transparent polls with cooperation and consultation of the democratic institutions, political parties, media and civil society. 

The Government needs to pay serious heed to the calls of international community regarding the necessary steps for free, fair and transparent elections to ensure smooth transfer of power in 2014 that is critically important for a peaceful political transition and insurance of continuation of the current setup. Any other adventure could lead us to chaos and eventual civil war.

 So far, the current administration has not taken any encouraging steps, rather controversial ones such as the dismissal of Electoral Complaints Commission and an artificial deadlock on the draft law of structure and organization of the Independent Election Commission and Electoral Complaints Commission, as well as the insistence on usage of old voter registration cards.

The opposition parties including some from the ruling coalition had urged President Karzai to sign the draft legislation on structure and powers of the IEC into law without any further delay, but it has been once again resent to parliament with amendment recommendations. Opposition believes President is intentionally prolonging the delay so that an administrative decree could be issued for the coming Presidential elections.

Political parties accuse that President wants one of his loyalists to be appointed as IEC Chief.  The names making rounds include Presidential Chief of Staff Karim Khuram and National Security Advisor Rangin Dadfar Spanta, both of whom are nearest to Karzai. Their appointment would mean hijacked fraud elections with crisis and chaos to follow.

The international community seems to be doing less to ensure a smooth power transition in Kabul to keep the pace of continuation of current setup and avoid chaos after the 2014 NATO withdrawal. Mere media statements have failed to work. They need to put serious pressure on the current Administration in Kabul to avoid adventurism and elections must be held transparently in an inclusive process of broad consensus.