Remember Afghanistan?

Didn't we make the same promises over there as we are now making in Iraq in regards to free elections? Then we could view Afghanistan as a test run, right? So how are elections in Afghanistan coming along? Not too well, according to the Daily Star:

The brutal killing of five aid workers, including three Europeans, in northern Afghanistan has prompted grave concerns over whether the country would be able to hold landmark elections scheduled for September, analysts say.

President Hamid Karzai on Thursday gave no indication that the country's first post-Taleban presidential and parliamentary elections, originally scheduled for June, would be delayed again.

"September ... the date's set," Karzai said in response to a question from a journalist at the Presidential Palace.

But members of the aid community have expressed concerns over whether the security conditions are in place for Afghans to cast their votes free of intimidation and violence.

Maybe if we had more troops there instead of in Iraq, we could do the first job right and show the world we know what we are doing. Instead, we rushed into Iraq before job one was done. Hopefully we won't make the same mistake again:

American forces would "hopefully" be hunting terrorists in South-east Asia "pretty soon", Defence Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld told marines and sailors aboard the helicopter carrier USS Essex before joining Asian military officers here today for talks focusing on Washington’s security plans for the region.

Yeah, like that.

Back to the Daily Star article. Apparently, Afghans aren't all that sure what democracy is, anyway:

According to a nationwide Asia Society survey of over 800 Afghans in February and March, the two main problems confronting the population are the economy and security.

The survey also highlighted the lack of knowledge in the largely illiterate country about elections with some 20 to 30 percent of those interviewed unfamiliar with the basic concepts of democracy.

According to the Afghan Media Resource Center report, 81 percent of those interviewed want to vote but only 37 percent said they thought the polls would be free and fair, with most worried about fraudulent counting and vote-buying.

Of those who said they would not vote, 8 percent said it was for fear of intimidation, violence and insecurity while 16 percent said they could not participate due to lack of permission.

That's probably why we left. We thought they wanted democracy, but now that we know better, there's no point. Right?