Danger Room in Afghanistan: An Election Rehearsal

By Nathan Hodge

BAGRAM, Afghanistan — In Afghanistan’s upcoming presidential vote, perception is everything. The Taliban want to create a climate of fear and instability; the Afghan government wants to dispel concerns about electoral fraud. And the U.S. military, for its part, wants to avoid the perception that it is pulling the strings.

That’s not an easy task: Insurgents have threatened to disrupt the balloting, and U.S. and coalition forces will be on call to provide backup on election day. The authorities are planning to open nearly 7,000 polling stations, and hundreds of polling centers, particularly in the country’s volatile south, are considered to be in danger.

On Wednesday, I had the chance to attend an election security planning meeting for Parwan Province, a relatively secure part of north-central Afghanistan that is the home to a major U.S. military base, Bagram Airfield. The meeting was attended by Afghan army and police commanders, representatives of the State Department and the UN Assistance Mission to Afghanistan, members of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission and Provincial Governor Abdul Basir Salangi. Task Force Gladius, which is responsible for security in this key region, played host.

The main message? Afghans are supposed to take the lead — and the U.S. and coalition forces want to keep a low profile. ....