It appears that the strong pressure exerted by the international community over the past few weeks has forced Hamid Karzai to announce a second round of voting for the Afghan Presidential elections to take place on 7 November. Organising a an election in less than three weeks would be a major challenge in a developed stable country; in Afghanistan the task is nothing short of monumental. However, the international community appeared to have little alternative if it wished to keep Afghanistan’s fragile democracy alive and an election re-run should at least provide a foundation to step-up nation building and counter-insurgency efforts.

Tom Coghlan has an excellent piece about the situation in the Times today; his observations about rural Afghanistan are spot on and, although rural Afghans have little interest in national politics they do seem to want to see whether the international community will show commitment to the country. Without wanting to lurch into hyperbole, this could be the last chance for the coalition to prevent the slow collapse of democracy and the eventual onset of another in civil war in Afghanistan. The international community should commit full military, political, and nation building resources to Afghanistan for the good of the country, the region and the wider world. Now is not the time to blink.

p.s. on a personal note I’m moving to London this weekend to start a new job, posting is difficult enough at the best of times and I may be incommunicado until I get settled in, so this may be my last post for a couple of weeks.