Taliban's Fate May Lie in the Voters Hands

As Thursday marks the start of the voting for Afghanistan's presidential elections, the sheer number of people who showed up was astounding and completely unexpected. With the increasing amount of people showing up to vote, experts believe this could deal a major blow to the Taliban because the militant Islamist group who ruled much of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 had threatened to violently interfere with the election process. The threat by the militant group clearly put on the back burner as nearly half the nation has already registered to vote in the election.

With the astounding number of people registering to vote it clearly shows the Taliban that their threats of violence hold little precedence in the minds of the Afghan people. With a large voter turnout it would be a gigantic boost of confidence in the democratic process moving forward. American officials do fear though that with the increase of American soldiers within Afghan borders; the people may feel that the soldiers were sent to make sure a particular candidate is put into office, when really this is not the case. The Afghan people need to feel that the election is legitimate and not at all hindered from outside forces to reinforce their confidence in the fragile democratic process.

With the election only a matter of hours away from taking place and the increased amount of military presence being brought into Afghanistan, this election has a lot ridding on it no matter the outcome. With the "Afghanistan Project" in full effect the hope of having an Afghan president put into place is essentially to Afghanistan regaining power from within and American forces returning home.