The difficulties of defending democracy in Afghanistan

There are no more days off for us until the election is over, so it is all hands to the pumps. In the final run to the Big Day tomorrow the number of security incidents dropped, which was good, but the attacks that were carried out were more concerted. Not so good.

Much of the predicted "wave of terror" has not happened and I put this down mainly to the combined efforts of the Afghan National Army and their mainly American allies.

The Americans, and increasingly the Afghans, are out there day after day taking it to the bad guys and making them look the other way while we get on with delivering the election.

Between those efforts and logistical support, it is no understatement to say that the election simply would not happen without them.

There are still those who hate them on sight, and I admit they have faults, but I believe that 99 per cent of their actions here are done with an honest intent.

Last month, I had my first turn at the helm running a response team to an incident. It was a long day.

The Operations Manager is an ex Australian Special Forces-type who believes in redundancy, so when this situation came up he calmly turned to me and said "away you go". I was in the seat.

The Afghan Election Co-ordinator in the West, the senior national staff member for the region, was left for dead after being stabbed a number of times by a group of unknown assailants outside his home near Herat.

Initial securing of the scene was handled by my regional security officer in Herat and, much to everyone's surprise, the election co-ordinator survived the attack. From there, the race was on.

We had to get him to medical attention, and fast, as he had suffered injuries to the abdomen and chest. The Spanish provided local international military support and we arranged for our patient to be picked up and rushed to their facility within one and a half hours of the incident. Not bad, considering the distances and limitations involved.

Then came news that the Spanish did not have the level of care required to treat him. Fortunately, I had stood an aircraft to when I began managing the situation and elected to keep it on station.

The Spanish stabilised him while I sorted out a doctor to accompany the medical evacuation I arranged to bring him to Kabul for life-saving surgery.

I juggled the different requirements needed to get a flight into and out of Herat, into Kabul and from there to the emergency hospital where my wife works.

I was in a position to move to the hospital in time for the arrival and was able to look on with pride as the medical team worked their magic.

A fitting end to a long day. The surgery went well and he is expected to make a full recovery.

The security situation calmed down noticeably last month. We hit a frenzied pace over the voter registration period in July, but once that was over and we pulled our people back in, the attacks stopped almost immediately for a few days.

As the days wore on it became apparent the bad guys were taking a breather too.

Of course the respite was not long-lived as coalition troops went on the offensive once more and began hitting them and scoring notable successes in two major campaigns in the south and the east. But we have not had it all our own way.

Many election staff have been targeted, some killed, mainly among our Afghan colleagues, and candidates have been hit as well. I have worked on several medical evacuations and managed three assistance missions where staff in trouble have needed the cavalry.

Kabul has also received major threat warnings, forcing my wife and me to adopt ever more vigilant personal protection measures.

My wife wanted to visit a store to pick up a gift for a friend who was leaving Afghanistan. The shop was three doors from our residential compound and the total exposure time was less than 15 minutes, but she still took a car and two guards and was as quick as possible.

I cannot see a concerted and coordinated campaign across the country on polling day. The Taleban are not a spent force, but their command and control and ability to sustain large numbers of men in the field is not up to the task.

We have seen little effective planning and leadership coupled with the fact that any time the Taleban concentrate force they attract US attention, resulting in a big queue for bad guy paradise.

But we have rehearsed bunker and evacuation drills and simulated a compound attack in the middle of a 24-hour national rehearsal exercise where we held an Election Day and ran through the type of scenarios we expect on the day.

Now, I'm looking forward to a month off early next year, home in good old New Zealand.

* Montague Walker is the nom de plume of a New Zealander working in Afghanistan. He has been living in the region for 18 months after experience in other conflict zones, including East Timor and the Solomon Islands. He is based in Kabul and travels extensively through Afghanistan.