While it wasn’t perfect, as no one predicted it would be, but for the most part the Afghan presidential election went relatively well. Of course, we should hold off full judgment until all the votes are collected, counted, and the election commission is allowed to check fraud complaints. There have been some vote tallies, but it will likely take days, if not weeks, to get all the far flung votes accounted for and patience will be needed. Reports have the death toll around 24-26 and no doubt countless others were too intimidated to cast their ballots or show their support to their preferred candidate.
Here are some sites that have had some valuable and continuous election day coverage:
At War – The New York Times latest updates on all things ‘Afghan election’. Lots of great links, including work done by Dexter Filkins in the volatile south of the country.
Alive in Afghanistan – This is a fantastic new site just brought to my attention by a colleague which takes a stresses Web 2.0 applications (Facebook, Twitter) to spread transparency about events and ‘incidents’ inside of Afghanistan.
The Af-Pak Channel – The Foreign Policy site continues to have many articles and a constantly updated blog about the elections.
Afghanistan Conflict Monitor – A site I depend on for update news stories in Afghanistan. Don’t take its name to literally as it covers many other Afghan related topics, i.e. local politics, culture..
Lastly, NPR has a great photo slide show about you guessed it, the presidential election.
Today was an important day in Afghan history and will likely help shape the futures of all Afghan citizens and for many Americans, but tomorrow, and the next day, the next day, (you get the point), will be just as crucial.
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