An Afghanistan Milestone

"A nation which makes the final sacrifice for life and freedom does not get beaten."

 - Mustafa Kemal Ataturk (1881-1938), 1st Turkish president

Is this great news or what? Tomorrow, millions of Afghans will go to the polls and vote for someone to lead their newly free country. Getting to this point has not been without its difficulties, many of them fatal. Nevertheless, these feisty people have persevered through it all and for the first time in almost 40 years will have a voice in choosing who their leaders will be.

Scott Norvell over at Tech Central Station calls it "The Little Election That Could" and tells us how excited Afghans are about the coming event:

"They seem genuinely excited. Almost everyone does. In the markets, people are actually talking about the vote. Some are driving around with pictures of candidates in their car windows. Posters of every hue cover the walls of central Kabul. Even one of the much-maligned warlords--men more inclined to saber-rattling than campaign rallies--jumped into the fray."

Certainly the process will not be perfect, but it's happening-- despite the efforts of terrorists to prevent it, the unavailability of sophisticated voting procedures and the negative voices of critics here in the U.S. These people want to exercise their right to vote enough to risk their lives doing it. That's a pretty sobering thought when you consider the lack of commitment many Americans have where getting out to vote is concerned.

Might we learn something from the determination these people have shown in their march to freedom over the past couple of years? They're certainly good examples, not only for us, but for other countries in the Middle East. Word of their success should help pave the way for Iraq at least, and possibly others as they see the beginnings of a democracy taking hold in their part of the world.

Update: Heritage Foundation senior fellow Peter Brookes provides more detail in this New York Post piece and opines about the ramifications of successful elections in Afghanistan.

Hat tip to Real Clear Politics for the links. 

Update: Fifteen of President Hamid Karzai's opponents are calling for a boycott of today's election. It was discovered that the ink used to mark each voter's fingers to prevent a person from voting multiple times could be washed off. Oops.

It seems to me that something so simple could have been checked before election day. What was supposed to be an historic occasion for these folks has been spoiled, not by a terrorist attack, but by not having the proper type of ink on hand. Stunning. Simply stunning. 

Update: Karzai's main challenger, Yunus Qanooni, has backed away from a boycott of the Afghanistan elections. He says he will accept an investigation of claims of vote-fraud by a panel of independent experts. He says the "national interest is my highest interest." This is good news.