Threatening Afghan voters

Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2009 | 2:06 a.m.

The presidential election in Afghanistan is Thursday and citizens there must make a choice: vote and take the chance that ominous threats by the Taliban are mere intimidation tactics or stay home because the threats might be real.

Eight years after the United States entered Afghanistan because the ruling Taliban played a major role in 9/11, most of the country — including practically all of the rural areas — is still rife with insurgents.

It might be a different story if the Bush administration had kept focused on Afghanistan instead of hyping the American people into believing Iraq was a bigger threat and starting an unnecessary war there that consumed most of the Pentagon’s time and resources.

The Obama administration has strengthened our presence in Afghanistan and has once again put our forces on the offensive against Taliban insurgents. But the more than six years under President George W. Bush in which the war against the Taliban and their al-Qaida allies was not the top priority took a toll that is still being felt. While we were pouring troops and pallets piled high with cash into Iraq, the Taliban regrouped and grew strong again after being routed in the early days of our invasion.

Now we have a situation in Afghanistan where the Taliban are emboldened enough by their numbers that they are publicly — in the streets, in the mosques, on the radio — threatening potential voters to keep them away from the polls.

Lacking American-style registration procedures, officials in Afghanistan require voters to dip a finger in ink, as a safeguard against someone voting twice. The New York Times reported Thursday and again Monday that one threat from the Taliban is to cut off fingers stained with ink. Another threat is that suicide bombers will be out in force Thursday, targeting polling places.

Many brave Afghans will vote Thursday. But many will not, an indication of how much more work there is ahead owing at least in part to the lost years during the Bush administration.