Kabul and the Afghan election

There were two major attacks in Kabul -- first a bomb and then missiles -- that were interpreted as an attempt by the Taliban to frighten potential voters into not going to the polls. I learned about the bomb on August 17 from Breaking Tweets. The Archivist search found 1,500 messages back as far as 1:00 a.m. August 15.

The Washington Post reported from Afghanistan several times during the run up to the election and afterward Wpost15, Wpost19, Wpost19, Wpost19, Wpost20, Wpost27.

The Christian Science Monitor reported on the pre-election attacks.

The AP ran a news story about the use of twitter to communicate about the election by Afghans.

CNN reported that the government wanted to keep election day violence from being reported abroad.

I am running the search until the election outcome is decided, which will take some time given the slow vote count. But there is not much messaging after the election.

October 31, 2009 and the election is imminent. So The Washington Post brings us breaking news.

News Alert
05:26 AM EDT Saturday, October 31, 2009

Breaking news: Afghan vote in the balance, Abdullah cancels trip

Advisers said Afghan President Hamid Karzai's election challenger Abdullah Abdullah canceled a planned trip to India, heightening speculation he would pull out of next week's runoff vote.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com - http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/JDFA9Q/T99HC/77LRND/PTOMYP/57QUI/GX/t

There is real threat here because the US and allies have said that support depends on a viable democracy. Karzai had rejected the recommendation of the UN and opened many more election stations than could be effectively monitored -- increasing the potential for fraud. So this looks like the next move.

I did not, however, start a new search. I was already searching for "Kabul" and the 200 new messages were largely about this political move by Abdullah. So I just need to note the combination of Post breaking news and any change in the stream already being captured.

More breaking news from The Washington Post

News Alert
6:25 AM EDT Monday, November 2, 2009

Election official: Afghan runoff vote canceled

Chief electoral officer on Afghanistan's election commission says Saturday runoff canceled.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com - http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/DME6KX/211EH/95HNPI/SGAR1D/Q12S0/E4/t

No election runoff since the opposition candidate -- Abdullah Abdullah -- withdrew from the race on the grounds that it could not be assured to be free from fraud.

News Alert
7:00 AM EDT Monday, November 2, 2009

Afghan election commission declares Karzai victor

Election officials on Monday declared Hamid Karzai the winner of Afghanistan's disputed presidential poll after cancelling a planned runoff following the withdrawal of his rival, Abdullah Abdullah.

For more information, visit washingtonpost.com - http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/VP6EHT/J55W3/S1D756/1ZDHKT/84RCB/HK/t

Surprise, surprise -- Karzai declared the winner since he had no opposition.

There was a spike of 800 messages at this point.

The election is over, and that is when I thought I would stop the search, but I will continue the search for another week since there are obvious questions about the election outcome.

Well, I did not stop the search, and #kabul became part of Obama's movement of troops into Afghanistan. But it is time to stop -- even with the movement of troops at this point.

At 13:15 p.m. January 1, 2009 54,802 messages had been found. The Archivist trendline is

This is an interesting trendline; there are a number of spikes of approximately the same size along with many days in the under 500 messages per day. It should be good for 'relating' to events.

The .txt file ready to be read by Excel is kabul.txt.