From The Guardian:
Afghanistan's first post-Taliban elections have been delayed for a second time amid increasing violence towards voters and officials, it was announced yesterday. The presidential vote will now take place on October 9, and parliamentary elections will not happen until next spring...From the NY Times:
The Taliban have vowed to disrupt any electoral process that would legitimise the presidency of the US-backed Karzai.
Although aid workers, contractors and security consultants have every right to enjoy themselves, there is mounting resentment among ordinary Afghans, who feel the West has been busier opening drinking holes than rebuilding their nation.
For some time, Afghanistan has been two countries: Kabul, which is relatively peaceful, and the rest, so riven by warlords and resurgent Taliban that the United Nations has declared a third of the country off limits to its employees.
But more recently, Kabul has become a city with two sides. With as many as a 1,000 nongovernmental organizations in residence, rents are higher here than in much of Manhattan. In Kabul's most affluent area, Wazir Akbar Khan, once favored by Osama bin Laden's Arabs and now a Western enclave, $5,000 a month gets only a small, uncared-for house. Most of the owners are rich Afghans living abroad, and, according to real estate agents, many are Taliban commanders living in Pakistan and using the rent to finance madrassas and militia training.
