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9.7 million voters are called to the polls this Saturday, September 28 in Afghanistan to elect a new president. They will have to decide between 16 candidates. Some of them campaigned on the theme of youth. Will that be enough to appeal to the intended electorate? Reportage.
From our correspondent in Afghanistan,
" Ghani baba king asti ", (" Papa Ghani you are a king "), sings a young rapper flanked by a large checkered shirt on a black sarouel. " You are the only one who can put the country back on their feet ", continues the young man, with his cap screwed on his head, silver sunglasses with a mirror effect on his nose. " This video has become viral on social networks, " enthuses Zaki Qazi. This young American thirty-something Afghan origin has left Chicago, his hometown, and the family restaurant of Afghan cuisine to join the campaign team of the candidate president. " He seduced me, he gives an image of Afghanistan in which I recognize myself, and that makes me want to invest myself ," he said.
In the basement of Ashraf Ghani's campaign headquarters in Kabul, a call center has been operating for 15 days. A hundred young people from all over the country answer the questions of voters who contact them via a unique number on television and on social networks. Momand, one of the managers is from Kunduz in the north of the country. The city, capital of the province of the same name, was the target of yet another offensive by the Taliban on August 31, plunging the inhabitants again in terror. Interviewed by several local media, he said he feared possible repercussions from the insurgents on his return to his family. Shy, this agricultural student at Kabul University, recalls: " I am where I must be, I make the right choice. The future of the country can not be positive without Ashraf Ghani who gives their chances to young people, he is convinced.
Outside the building in front of the diplomatic zone, in the heart of Kabul, are great portraits of Ashraf Ghani and some of his supporters. Under their picture, the hashtag @voterpourGhani. Activists are encouraged to take selfies in front of portraits and post them on Instagram. The election campaign is also happening on the Web for Ashraf Ghani's campaign team. " In Afghanistan, everyone has a mobile phone. The Internet is the best way to address the entire population, "explains Daoud Noorzai, one of the campaign leaders of the president who has lived in Europe for a long time.
At the wheel of his taxi, Amrullah says he does not need to follow the debates on television to make his choice between the candidates. " Ashraf Ghani is the only politician supposed to be in the country and able to move in the right direction, " he says. " The president did not hesitate during his quinquennium to oppose the former warlords who make the law on their territories, to denounce corruption, to appoint young people to ministerial positions and in the army to replace the generals who made their weapons during the war against the Soviet invasion, "he lists.
On the campus of the Polytechnic School in West Kabul, Huma, made another choice. The young woman, a law student, supports Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the executive, unfortunate candidate of the 2014 presidential election, vying to run for the presidential seat again. " He does not put his ambitions before peace, " she says. She said she was disappointed by the way Ashraf Ghani clung to power despite all the peace negotiations between the Americans and the Taliban before they fell to a standstill on September 8, when Donald Trump ended discussions to everyone's surprise.
Reshad Aziz, still does not know if he will vote. " Leaders, men of power still think only of themselves when they become president, " he says bitterly. The argument is simplistic, but at nearly 30 years old, the street vendor of dough, a fermented milk drink popular in the Middle East and Central Asia, lives without any prospect of the future. At his side, his 15-year-old brother does not go to school anymore, but helps every day to be able to provide for the family by raising just under $ 200 a month. A scar runs through the top of his head, resulting from a projectile wound received in the head on July 19 when a suicide bomber blew himself up near an entrance to Kabul University, less than 500 meters from the cart that serves as a point of sale with his brother.
" The violence has only increased, " complains Mujda. At age 18 she studies to be a teacher. " Ashraf Ghani has only plunged this country into violence, there is every day explosions, we can not leave home without thinking of an attack, " says the young woman. The violence has indeed increased in recent years. The departure of part of foreign troops in 2014 marked a turning point in the insurgency. The past few months have been particularly deadly. 1,500 civilians were killed or wounded last July, a monthly record since May 2017.