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After the fall of the Taliban the International Republican Institute (IRI) began helping the Afghan people establish a democracy and prepare for the country’s first presidential election ever and the first parliamentary elections in decades. Following a successful presidential election in 2004 and successful parliamentary elections in 2005, IRI’s work has turned to assisting new parliamentarians strengthen democratic practices within the new parliament, increasing the participation of civil society and women in the political process and promoting independent media to serve as a watchdog on the government.
Elections Assistance
In preparation for the 2004 presidential election, IRI and its local partners worked to increase political and social awareness within the Afghan population to help create an informed electorate and active civil society. IRI launched a program designed to provide civic education to communities through the use of village maliks (community elders). Trainings focused on the importance of national unity, civic participation and gender equity.
In February 2004, IRI began deploying mobile units of community trainers. These units conducted two-day seminars in rural districts to improve voter knowledge. The all-Afghan mobile training teams had access to areas that foreign nongovernmental organizations (NGO) could not enter, making them an indispensable resource. In addition, they had the unique ability to help local leaders better understand democracy, and show them how they could participate in the process using local language and local training methods.
As the country began to prepare for the 2005 parliamentary elections, IRI's focused on training and organizing independent reformers and candidates. Afghanistan's experience with political parties disillusioned its citizens on the concept of party identity and loyalty. Afghans saw political parties as having directly contributed to the strife and civil warfare of the past. IRI sought to circumvent this aversion, and potential voter apathy, by organizing independent candidates into larger coalitions.
With its Afghan partners, IRI built a grassroots organization which was truly national in scope, as opposed to the divisive regional, sectarian and ethnic groupings more common in politics. This helped independent candidates contest the election; providing organization and structure to approximately 100,000 members. IRI’s efforts to support these pro-democratic candidates proved successful with more than 100 of the coalition's candidates winning office.
Election Monitoring
On October 9, 2004, more than eight million Afghans cast their ballot in the country's first direct presidential election ever. IRI fielded a 13-member bipartisan team to monitor the election process. The team, which was the only American monitoring presence in Afghanistan, was led by Ambassador Richard S. Williamson and former Assistant Secretary of State Bernard Aronson. IRI observers found the election to be a “credible step forward in the country's march to democracy.”
IRI support the September 2005 parliamentary elections by once again sending a delegation of monitors to ensure the conduct of the elections. The delegation was led by Constance Berry Newman, former Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs. The 16-member international team was supplemented by local staff and implementing partners which allowed for Election Day monitoring in 16 provinces. The election observation delegation found that the September 18, 2005 vote was well organized, with most Afghan election workers well trained and professional.
Supporting Pro-Democracy Parliamentarians
Following the September 2005 parliamentary elections, IRI and its partner, the Welfare Association for the Development of Afghanistan (WADAN), organized nearly 50 meetings and events with the intent of promoting cooperation among the independent incoming members of parliament. Training was provided on bylaws and declaration of principles along with organizational and strategic advice. This resulted in the building of several parliamentary blocs of independent pro-democracy legislators.
When Afghanistan's first elected parliament in three decades took office in December of 2005, newly elected members turned to the critical work of naming committees and electing committee chairs. In their first attempts at legislative coalition-building, the IRI-trained blocs formed alliances for parliamentary committee chair elections and succeeded in capturing 11 of the 18 seats. These blocs are a significant bulwark against influential warlords and hard-line fundamentalists in the parliament.
A large percentage of Afghans are under the age of 30. To effectively meet the needs of this growing constituency, IRI is working with parliamentarians on the formation of a Youth Caucus. The caucus will focus on building consensus between members of parliament, and help connect caucus members to its constituency – young Afghans.
Independent Media
Prior to the 2004 presidential election, IRI supported the creation and publication of Erada, the only independent daily newspaper in Afghanistan published in both Dari and Pashto languages.
IRI’s work with the Afghanistan Media Resource Center (AMRC) to publish and distribute Erada continues. The newspaper provides Afghans with impartial reporting on reconstruction efforts being undertaken in the country, as well as political developments.
Erada is distributed throughout Afghanistan as well as abroad.
Civil Society
In March 2002, IRI provided support to the then Peshawar-based Afghan NGOs Coordination Bureau’s (ANCB) in its relocation, allowing the 140-NGO-member group to reopen and expand its Kabul office. At a critical time in the country’s immediate post-war efforts, ANCB’s transfer to Kabul allowed for its organizational structure and collective expertise to again be based out of the capital.
With beneficiaries numbering in the millions of Afghan citizens, ANCB and its member organizations served as a vital link between the citizens and the international donor community. Following the collapse of the Taliban, the bureau assumed a new role representing the priorities of its beneficiaries throughout the country in direct dealings with the transitional Afghan government. In the process, ANCB’s membership more than doubled. Currently, more than 350 Afghan NGOs are affiliated with ANCB.
Women and Youth Programs
A critical component of IRI’s programming in Afghanistan seeks to build a national youth movement and a national women’s movement that give those groups a voice in Afghan politics.
IRI's partner, WADAN, has been fielding representatives throughout Afghanistan to strengthen ties established with the district shuras (councils). The shura network focuses its attention towards civic and community engagement in a democratic Afghanistan.
In addition, IRI’s youth organizers have been actively visiting universities and high schools in Kabul and its surrounding areas to rally support for the program. Youth field representatives have been organizing their peers into a movement that is training activists to lobby parliament.
IRI supported the publication of the Activist Handbook, which is used to train youth on grassroots tactics for organizing and putting public pressure on elected officials to enact an agenda.
With anti-democratic forces working hard to compel Afghanistan’s youth towards violence and intolerance, IRI’s success in this arena becomes all the more critical.
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The Taliban, an extreme Islamic movement, emerged in 1994 as a counter-force to the warring rebel factions. Afghanistan's capital, Kabul, came under Taliban control in the mid-1990s and by 1998, the Taliban's opposition, the Northern Alliance, held only small portions of the. The Taliban inflicted a brutal regime upon the Afghan people and provided shelter and support to Al-Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden.
In June 2002, the Loya Jirga elected Hamid Karzai as the interim head of state until national elections were held in October 2004. Between June 2003 and October 2004 President Karzai's administration reopened schools, reconstituted the national army and police force, initiated a battle to quash illegal drug production, and adopted a new constitution establishing a democratic Islamic government that guarantees equal rights and protection for every citizen.
