"Afghanistan: presidential election"/"This Is a Good Day For Afghanistan"

Further to this post, excerpts from a Conference of Defence Associations' media round-up (Germany and Afstan at end; Spiegel is consistently, er, defeatist):

...
Carlotta Gall and Stephen Farrall for the New York Times report on the aftermath of the Afghan presidential elections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/world/asia/21afghan.html

Matthew Fisher for Canwest News Service reports on comments on the election and Taliban violence by BGen Jon Vance, commander of Canada’s Task Force Afghanistan.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Taliban+fail+derail+election+soldier/191474...

AFP reports on the Afghan election turnout despite threats of Taliban violence
http://www.cyberpresse.ca/international/moyen-orient/200908/20/01-894180-les-...

Rosie DiManno for the Toronto Star writes on violence and intimidation in the run-up to Afghan elections and on the process and aftermath.
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/682794
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/684348

Nipa Banerjee for the Ottawa Citizen comments on the lack of enthusiasm for and vigour of the 2009 presidential election, as compared to the previous one in 2004.
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Somnia/1914779/story.html

Reuters reports that the NATO Secretary-General has called for a doubling of the size of the Afghan security forces [emphasis added, US views here].
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/nato-wants-to-double-afghan-forces/...

Der Spiegel reports on the struggle against the Taliban waged by German troops and Afghan security forces in Kunduz province. Der Spiegel interviews a former German defence minister on the subject of his country’s Afghan mission.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,643775,00.html [things seem to changed somewhat since this post]
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,643176,00.html ...

And from Brian at The Canada-Afghanistan Blog:

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BBC's headline for their election coverage: Afghan poll hailed as a "success"

CBC's headline for their election coverage: Afghan voter turnout low, officials say

They might both be right--but only the BBC has the big picture in mind. Don't expect Afghanistan's turnout to be significantly lower than Canada's in most elections--and no Canadian has to worry about getting their f[......] finger chopped off...

Hmmm. Gotta love the Beeb sometimes.