Dr. Deborah Alexander, the Senior Advisor to the U.S. Ambassador to
Afghanistan will brief congressional staff on the role of elections in
fostering political stabilization in Afghanistan. For the last 18
months she has served as the Embassy’s primary election expert, working
on both the 2004 and 2005 elections in Afghanistan, which completed the
political commitments of the December 2001 Bonn Agreement. The
elections were widely heralded as a success, but while political
institutions have been created a robust political culture is yet to
evolve. The security situation remains fragile and prospects for
long-term reconstruction and development are unclear. What are the
prospects for the new parliament? Will the fledging democratic process
breed participatory democracy or paralysis? What role can the
international community play in supporting the economic, political and
security transition in Afghanistan?
