NightWatch

For the Night of 20 August 2009

North Korea-South Korea: North Korea will lift border restrictions on land crossings with South Korea on 21 August, China Daily reported, citing South Korean YTN TV. North Korea's restrictions were implemented on 1 December 2008.

South Korea's Red Cross said in a statement it would contact North Korea's Red Cross today to propose holding talks 26-28 August to arrange reunions of separated families, Yonhap reported. South Korea is following up Pyongyang's recent pledge to restart the process of reunions. The proposed venue for the talks is North Korea's Mount Kumgang resort, where Seoul has built a reunion house

South Korea will allow a North Korean delegation to attend the funeral of former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, the government said today, Yonhap reported. The six-member delegation includes Kim Ki Nam, a Secretary of the Workers' Party Central Committee, Kim Yang Gon, a director in charge of inter-Korean affairs and Won Tong Yon, a senior member of The Korea Asia-Pacific Peace Committee. Three others are staffers. The delegation will be in Seoul on 21 and 22 August.

Nothing but good news from the North.

India-North Korea: Update. Indian authorities continue to detain the North Korean ship MV Mu San. Apparently, the Indians have only found sugar in the cargo hold, but their search for contraband continues.

Afghanistan: This is a good day for Afghanistan. Over 6,000 polling stations were open most of the day nationwide. Many reopened even after Taliban attacks. Government authorities reported 26 people died in 73 incidents that produced casualties. There were hundreds of security incidents, attacks and shootings, but only 73 produced casualties.

The voting went far better than anyone had reason to expect. Observers reported less than half the 17 million registered voters are estimated to have voted. In 2004 about 6 million of 11 million registered voters voted. Still the total number of voters will probably be higher than in 2004 because of population growth.

Voter turnout was low but probably not that much lower than in the 2004 elections which registered 54%. One reason for the low turnout is the Pashtuns disenfranchised themselves. In the Pashtun provinces of the south, turnout was negligible. Nevertheless, there was some turnout, in defiance of Taliban threats, even in the south. In most provinces, turnout was moderate to good. In the larger cities, it was good.

No preliminary returns have been announced. No exit polls were possible. The election commission plans to announce preliminary results within the next few days.

Comment: A few points are worth making. Afghans like to vote and the Taliban intimidation campaign failed miserably except in the Pashtun south. That reinforces the hypothesis that the insurgency is mostly a tribal uprising, far more than either a nationalist fight for liberation or a fight to install an Islamic emirate.

Were there enough troops, even the Pashtun women in the south would have voted, as they did in 2004. No security, no voter turnout; no surprise. That is not the same as a boycott or a failure of legitimacy, as some western media mouthpieces are proclaiming.

As for the Coalition, the security plan was a general success in 85% of the country. For the Taliban, this has to be considered a setback. If their propaganda was remotely credible, they put a lot of energy into disrupting the vote. They failed, except anecdotally.

For the government and the Coalition, today’s vote constitutes a historic pivot point in that it opens opportunities for new policy directions that take advantage of the often celebratory atmosphere of a national vote. Most likely those opportunities will be missed, especially after the charges of voter fraud and calls for recounts surface in the coming days. Still for a day, Afghanistan and its people acted almost like a country.

Poland-Afghanistan: The head of the Polish army resigned after a dispute in which he accused the government of failing to equip troops in Afghanistan properly. Lt Gen Waldemar Skrzypczak also said ministry officials' knowledge of war was limited to the movies. He made his comments after the death of a Polish officer earlier this month in an ambush in Afghanistan. Four soldiers were wounded in the clash.

Skrzypczak publicly accused the defense ministry of incompetence and failing to provide his troops with modern helicopters and other military hardware. He resigned after the Defense Minister, Bogdan Klich, told a news conference that the general had admitted his criticisms were a mistake. Gen Skrzypczak said he stood by his remarks.

Poland has 2,000 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.

Somalia: Al Shabaab and its associated clans are trying again to seize parts of Mogadishu, exchanging mortar fire. Skirmishing is also occurring in the south central highland region. Rest and rearm time is over and it is time for another round of skirmishing.

Algeria: the Algerian national committee in charge of the crescent moon sighting marking the first day of the fasting month of Ramadan has declared Saturday 22 August 2009 as the first day of Ramadan.

Honduras: According to Zelaya’s secretary, the ex president is now determined to return to Honduras by 1 September.

End of NightWatch for 20 August.