Afghan students root for change as country goes to polls today

“My country has seen war for 30 years. After the US invasion ended,we hoped a new day will dawn. Democratic elections were held in 2004,and we gave Hamid Karzai a chance. But he did not perform. Corruption has increased. Officials just feather their own nest,” Rahmatullah,president of the Afghan Students’ Association in Chandigarh,says. The association has 73 members,including eight girls.

Ask Rahmatullah whom he would have voted for had he been in Afghanistan,and pat comes the reply,“Technocrat Ashraf Ghani.” To buttress his answer,he says,“He is a Pashtun with a doctorate from Columbia University,and wants to work for women’s rights and youth. Ghani served as Karzai’s Finance Minister and also at the World Bank. He was our best Finance Minister. He was also the Chancellor of Kabul University.”

Ghani has a wide band of educated supporters,but the “voting pattern in Afghanistan is not determined by education”.

“Literacy rate is low,and people usually vote for the person they have seen. They have been seeing Karzai for a good number of years,so they may decide in his favour,” says Hedayat,another student.

Rahmatullah also predicts Karzai’s victory: “He has two secretaries,a Tajik and a Hazara,garnering support for him,and Sikhs also support him.”

“Life has been a switchback journey for Afghans. We have suffered so much pain that when our country came on an even keel and doors of life opened to women,people gave credit to Karzai. But I feel he cannot secure a better future for Afghanistan. Today,we are getting foreign aid,but one day it will stop. Then who will look after the country? We will be back to square one. We still do not have electricity in most of the homes,” Nazakat says.

Mustafa,the spark plug of the group who hails from Kabul,wants to be a politician. His friends chime in: “We also want to serve our country,and politics is the best way.”

Ask them about the second option,and they say,“Teaching is considered the noblest profession in Afghanistan. A teacher is respected more than the President.”

Mustafa says media has little influence on voting,as people buy newspapers only for photographs of Shah Rukh Khan. The students say they did not like US officials detaining the Bollywood star for two hours.

“Our folks back home always ask us if we have seen Shah Rukh,” Mustafa says. So the formula for a sure-shot win in Afghanistan elections is to rope in Shah Rukh Khan for campaigning. “It will definitely work,” chuckles Nazakat.