Coward in Kabul

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Since starting out as a foreign correspondent during the late 1970s in Paris, Swiss-American writer and journalist Edward Girardet would often make a point of coming to Geneva to report on peace talks, wars and humanitarian crises. After all, the UN's Palais des Nations was one of the few places where some of the world's most renowned thugs, such as Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe or Zaire's Mobutu Sese Seko, could appear without fear of being arrested for crimes against humanity. (See William Dowell's piece on the United Nations and war criminals).

The sad reality of the Afghan elections is that the results really do not matter. Seventeen million Afghans were registered to vote - and many did, including women determined to have an impact on the future of their country - but the extraordinary optimism that existed during the first presidential polls in 2004 is lacking. People have become disillusioned and are losing confidence. And many feel that no matter who comes to power there will be no real change. Edward Girardet reports from the Afghan capital.

Kabul -This morning, I strolled around to check out some of the heavily protected polling stations. It was all very quiet, the weather very hot. Most shops are closed and there are very few people in the streets. The BBC, Al Jazeera and some of the Afghan television stations have been reporting modest voter turnout (I don't bother any more with CNN), which is perhaps more than some expected, given the security threats and three bombs as well as other attacks earlier this week. Street security is tight with armoured vehicles on each corner. Flak-jacketed police and soldiers with Kalashnikovs linger along the main roads and outside banks, government offices and other key points.

Veteran journalist and writer Edward Girardet has just arrived in Afghanistan as part of a Center for Investigative Reporting project focusing on longterm perspectives in Afghanistan. He is also doing final research for his book Killing the Cranes: Beyond Afghanistan’s Unwinnable Wars, based on 30 years of reporting and traveling in the country. This is the first of a series of dispatches that he is writing for The Essential Edge as part of his Coward in Kabul column.

Kabul – The Afghan capital went into “shutdown” on Saturday–at 8.34 precisely - when an armoured vehicle, probably stolen, blew up outside the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) headquarters. The explosion killed seven people and injured 91. With presidential elections less than a week away, the insurgents are after symbolic targets and ISAF is certainly one of them, particularly anything US-related. Expats working for ISAF joke that the acronym now stands for “I Saw Americans Fighting,” given the pronounced lack of enthusiasm among various other NATO partners to take part in any combat. Rumour has it – and Kabul is full of rumours – that seven or eight Pakistani nationals have crossed into Afghanistan to sow destruction.

The recent US-led Coalition-Afghan offensive in Marjah, Helmand Province, has been heralded as a success by some. The reality, however, may be far different. As Edward Girardet shows, the Soviets faced very similar problems during the 1980s and ultimately failed.

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American film director Michael Moore’s documentary “Sicko” on health care in the United States – 50 million people without insurance or access to proper treatment – may have engaged in a bit of hyperbole to make its case.  But the film was convincing on one  point. You don’t want to be sick in America if you have no money. The fact that two billion other people, mainly in the developing world, also have no adequate health care should shame Americans. Journalist and writer Edward Girardet draws on a recent personal tragedy which shows how lucky many Europeans are to have such access…even if we do complain about the inadequacies of National Health in the United Kingdom, the high premiums of Switzerland’s health insurance cartels, and overstretched facilities in French hospitals.

The United States is sending an additional 3,000 troops to Afghanistan in a bid to improve a steadily deteriorating security situation. One reason why the country is in such a mess, writes Edward Girardet, is because of American polilcy dating back to the Soviet occupation, when Texas Congressman Charlie Wilson - together with Pakistan - helped create international terrorists who have come back to haunt us.

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CESSY -- Christophe de Ponfilly, the 55-year-old French film-maker, writer, and Afghan aficionado died on Tuesday, 16 May, 2006 by his own hand in a forest – one of his favourite walking haunts - outside Paris. Edward Girardet remembers his friend.

The 2007 Nobel Award to former US Vice President Al Gore and the 3,000 scientists of the UN Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) recognizes the need for advocacy and established fact as crucial for getting the world to take impact of global warming and other forms of climate change seriously. In his global blog, Coward in Kabul, journalist Edward Girardet, underlines the critical importance of also ensuring that the public-at-large be properly informed.