E. Benjamin Skinner, a journalist and senior fellow at the Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism, spent the last 2 weeks in Afghanistan reporting on the parliamentary elections for Foreign Policy and serving as one of the 80 international election observers with Democracy International;Skinner, who returned to the United States last Wednesday, published two articles in Foreign Policy titled "E-Day in Kabul" and "The Vote Comes to Afghanistan's Peaceful Heartland."

The former explores the atmosphere in Afghanistan leading up to the elections and the latter the resurgence of female political participation in the Afghan city of Bamiyan.

According to its website, U.S.-based Democracy International "works on democracy and governance ... programs worldwide for the U.S. Agency for International Development ... and other development partners." In a Google Chat interview with the Justice, Skinner wrote, "As an election observer, I was asked to study Afghan electoral law and observe the extent to which the election day procedures adhere to that law. Fairly simple really; but challenging just to get to the polls sometimes in a place like Afghanistan."

The Afghan elections to the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of parliament, took place Sept. 18 and were the second Afghan-led parliamentary elections held in the post-Taliban era.

According to Democracy International's website, "The most critical stage of the electoral process is now taking place in the results tabulation and complaints adjudication processes." The website states that as part of the results tabulation process, Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission staff has begun processing "tamper evident bags which contain results forms from Afghanistan's 34 provinces." Furthermore, the website states that complaints are being processed at Provincial Election Complaints Commissions around Afghanistan.

"The ultimate success of the election process will depend on the legitimate outcomes of these critical processes. Only after this work is complete can a reasonable judgment be cast on this election process," according to Democracy International Inc.'s website. In his interview with the Justice, Skinner wrote that the results of the elections are scheduled to be certified in October.

Regarding his interest in Afghanistan, Skinner wrote, "I was hoping to get a keener sense of how realistic it is to hope for democracy in a country still torn by war. . And, of course, as the currently most active theater of conflict in the war on terror, I wanted to see up close what fruit our policies was bearing."

"The biggest challenge for any western reporter in Afghanistan today is security. . The Taliban and other illegal armed groups have specifically named western journalists as targets, and so we have to be very careful regarding telegraphing our movements ahead of time. This makes setting up interviews, etc, something of a challenge," Skinner wrote in his interview.

He also wrote, however, that in Bamiyan he found local Hazaras-an ethnic population originally from the Hazarajat region in central Afghanistan-to be "very welcoming, open and eager to talk about their hopes for democracy."

In "E-Day in Kabul," Skinner specifically notes security issues leading up to the election day: "This year, insurgents have killed four candidates, while 30 more have retained private security companies. On E-Day minus 2, the Taliban killed two election workers, and on the night of Sept. 16, they kidnaped 10 campaign workers and eight IEC employees." In his interview with the Justice, Skinner wrote, "I want to be careful not to minimize the work of the security professionals who assess these situations. But I often find that the problems look much worse from a distance, particularly as we in the media tend to be drawn to blood." He wrote in his interview that while "there certainly was blood" in cities like Kandahar and Uruzgan, "millions of Afghans voted without incident, and that it also part of the story."

"I think one way or the other, it's a mistake to judge the election by American standards," Skinner wrote in his interview, explaining, "For one thing, Afghanistan in engulfed in a full-fledged war. For another, this is just the second all-Afghan elections in the country."

Florence Graves, the founding director of the Schuster Institute, wrote in an e-mail to the Justice,

"I thought [Skinner's] article in Foreign Policy about the political activities of women in Bamiyan province was especially insightful, counter intuitive. [sic] His reporting was an important contribution to public understanding about the more active role women are playing in some parts of Afghanistan. In fact, I think his reporting really challenged the stereotypes many of us have that all Afghan women are completely dominated and powerless."

Skinner wrote in his interview that his work at the Schuster Institute will continue to focus on modern-day slavery. "I saw a few things that sparked my curiosity in that vein in Afghanistan, and I may pursue one of those leads," he wrote.