afghanistan1979, which allowed them to manipulate electoral boundaries in favour of
those factions already in power. The Hazara-Shi‘a dominated provinces of
Bamiyan and Deh Kundi, for example, were allocated only two seats each
in the Wolusi Jirga, while Kabul province had 33 mps. The 68 seats reserved
for women were mostly filled by nominations by existing power brokers,
and only a few women were actually elected by popular vote.
The outcome was that the Wolusi Jirga and Meshrano Jirga were
dominated by former mujahidin commanders and Islamists. Despite the
new electoral law specifically excluding those implicated in war crimes
and human rights abuses, many members of the Wolusi Jirga either led,
or belonged to, factions that were responsible for the bloodshed of the
1990s and human rights abuses during the era of King Zahir Shah or the
Communist governments. Yet despite all these irregularities the United
Nations, America and the international coalition legitimized the results
of both the presidential and parliamentary elections. As for the census, it
was not until 2016 that any actual survey commenced, and according to the
United Nations Fund for Population Activities (unfpa), a full nationwide
census could take up to six years to complete. With many rural areas now
out of government control, however, it is increasingly unlikely any accur-
ate figures of the country’s overall population will be forthcoming in the
near future. Furthermore, due to political pressure, the census forms do
not include any questions related to an individual’s ethnicity or language.
The presidential and parliamentary elections of 2009/10 and 2014 took
place against the backdrop of a revived insurgency by the Taliban and other
anti-government factions. In many rural districts, particularly in southern
Afghanistan, security was poor or in the hands of the Taliban and ballot
boxes were not delivered. Threats by the Taliban and other insurgents also
meant that voters stayed away in large numbers. In the first round of the
2009 presidential elections, ‘Abdullah ‘Abdullah, a Tajik aligned to Jami‘at-i
Islami, lost to Hamid Karzai by a narrow margin. A few months later a un
investigation invalidated more than a million of Karzai’s votes, bringing his
tally to below 50 per cent, yet Karzai still refused to step down and the aec
declared him the winner. ‘Abdullah angrily condemned this decision as
unconstitutional and declared the aec to be ‘illegitimate’ and ‘tainted’, but
the United Nations and the international community as a whole did noth-
ing about the ballot rigging. Instead they persuaded ‘Abdullah ‘Abdullah
to accept the result and not to demand a run-off. Peter Galbraith, the
United Nations Deputy Special Representative to Afghanistan, accused his
superior, Kai Eide, of being complicit in the electoral fraud and legitim-
izing a ‘train wreck’. 22 As a result, Galbraith was sacked and several other