Only the second election in your history and the first truly contested election is a difficult thing to hold under any circumstances. To hold it in the middle of a war is extraordinary. And I congratulate the independent electoral commission, the complaints commission and the people of Afghanistan for attempting such an extraordinary effort in the middle of a war. I am pleased that the world community, led by the United Nations and the United States, is supporting this effort.
Everybody knows that no election can be perfect. And this election is facing many complex challenges. We have just discussed many of them in our conversation: how we make sure that women can vote, which requires women at the polls as poll watchers, as people inspecting, and so on.
