This election could have produced a parliament that really reflected the wants and needs of the Afghan people to be free from the rule of the gun... And for clinics, roads, schools and jobs. Instead what we may get is a parliament stocked with figures who represent the bloody past and who have very little legitimacy or competence to address the basic needs of the country.
Sam Zarifi
people past jobs free gun country election rule competence roads schools
Voters had to choose between the unknown and the notorious.
unknown choose
There's a part of Afghanistan where there's overt violence, and there's a part where there's more subtle intimidation. That creates an obstacle for people who are dedicated to taking part in the election.
people violence afghanistan election part intimidation
It contains a barely veiled threat of collective punishment. Making such a threat is a violation of the Geneva conventions and other laws of war.
war laws punishment threat
Lots of Afghans are disappointed and cynical because they feel like people who perpetrated serious human rights abuses have been allowed back in the parliament.
rights people human feel cynical
US forces are still detaining people without charge indefinitely in operating bases.
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The US detain people, keep them for a while and then release them without charges. It sometimes take two months for the family to know where the detainees are.
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There's a growing feeling of an opportunity lost.
opportunity feeling growing lost
There are several districts, particularly in southern Afghanistan, where the government doesn't even really exist.
government afghanistan exist southern
The Afghan people need a government that is functional and accountable. The warlords offer neither.
people government offer
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