Afghanistan: Getting to the Elections

[Annie]

Security is an issue, but they are working at getting to the voting:

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=23323

Hunt for militants takes back seat to security as Afghanistan readies for vote


By Jon R. Anderson, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Sunday, July 18, 2004


AIR BASE, Afghanistan — U.S. commanders in Afghanistan are shifting forces and resources away from the hunt for Osama bin Laden to help support Afghanistan’s upcoming national elections.

“We’re going from the specific objective of searching out and killing the enemy to going out and protecting the election process,” said Maj. Robert Ault, a senior operations planner for Combined Joint Task Force 76, the main warfighting headquarters in Afghanistan.

“This is a huge shift for us,” he said.

Called “Operation Lightning Resolve,” the new focus of effort is designed to shore up the United Nation’s push to register voters for the country’s first post-Taliban elections since U.S. forces toppled the regime in late 2001.