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Marco Werman speaks with Peter Galbrait, the former Deputy UN envoy to Afghanistan, about how to prevent fraud in the upcoming second round of elections there.

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MARCO WERMAN: We turn now to Peter Galbraith. Until very recently, he was the number two United Nations official in Afghanistan. He was dismissed by the UN after a dispute over what to do about the fraud-tainted elections there. Galbraith says fraud will not be totally preventable in a run-off vote. But he thinks it can be minimized.

PETER GALBRAITH: That requires three steps. First, the United Nations and the international community has to stop treating the Independent Election Commission, this is the Afghan body responsible for running the elections, as if it were independent. It is not, it is a partisan, pro-Karzai body. Ideally one would want to replace the commissioners, but there’s not enough time to do it. They need to be supervised closely.

WERMAN: Sorry. Before you get to step two, we just spoke with President Karzai’s spokesman Waheed Omer, and he says they have nothing to do with the Independent Election Commission.

GALBRAITH: Other than the fact that Karzai appointed all its members and that the head of it meets weekly with President Karzai, and that the palace gives instructions to the head of the commission? [LAUGHS] Aside from that, that statement might be right.

WERMAN: Okay. So, steps two and three.

GALBRAITH: Secondly, now is the time to close what I call the “ghost polling stations.” These were polling centers in locations that are either controlled by the Taliban or so insecure that nobody could go to them. No Afghan election official could go there, no observer and of course no voters. But of course because they existed on the map it was possible for very large pro- Karzai results to be reported from these places. I had tried in fact in July to get these closed but I was overruled by the head of the UN mission. But now is the time to close them. They were the major source of the fraud. And the third thing that has to happen is that the Independent Election Commission staff who worked in places where fraud took place need to be fired, and new staff hired. That is because in every instance where there was fraud, the election commission staff either committed the fraud, cooperated with the people who committed the fraud, or knew about the fraud and failed to report it. And so there needs to be a clean sweep. That’s going to be the most difficult thing to accomplish in 2 weeks, but it’s essential.

WERMAN: Right. And Waheed Omer also said that they would not be doing that. So I guess the question now is who will undertake and achieve these three steps, which obviously are loaded with politics and logistics, in the next 2 weeks, ahead of November 7^th?

GALBRAITH: Well, first the United Nations which is charged with supporting the Afghan institutions in these elections needs to understand that its role is not a passive one. We cannot do as Kai Eide, the head of the UN mission said and let the Afghans make their own mistakes. We in the United States and in the international community have a lot at stake in these elections. Not only did we pay 300 million dollars for them, but they very much affect the prospect for success of the military mission that our troops have. So it is incumbent upon the United Nations and the main countries, particularly the United States to put pressure on these Afghan institutions to take the steps that are necessary to assure an honest election.

WERMAN: Maybe you could elaborate on which institutions would actually do this?

GALBRAITH: Well it would be the Independent Election Commission. So they will be the ones who have to replace the staff, they will be the ones that have to close down polling centers where fraud took place, these ghost polling centers. And of course the commissioners, themselves being partisans, they will have to be lobbied or pressured to do the right thing.

WERMAN: Peter Galbraith you’re kind of in a position now to say I told you so. Your speaking out publicly resulted in your dismissal from your UN post as the deputy UN envoy to Afghanistan. Was there a way you think you could have handled things differently so that the allegations of fraud would have been taken seriously sooner?

GALBRAITH: Well let me be clear. I did not speak out publicly until after I had been dismissed. This was a private disagreement handled in the way in which diplomats ought to handle them. I was the deputy, Kai Eide was the chief of the mission. I spoke directly to him. I laid out to him what I saw happening and the great risk of fraud. But I didn’t break with him. I didn’t make public statements which would have been inappropriate. I mean, maybe if I had somehow resigned rather than been fired and done it before the election making a public statement. But frankly at that point I don’t think anybody would have listened. I did the appropriate course of action which was to argue  internally for us to take steps to reduce the risk of fraud, principally by closing polling stations that we knew in advance of the election would never actually open.

WERMAN: Would you like…do you see yourself having a new role in Afghanistan?

GALBRAITH: I think it’s very unlikely, frankly. One of the realities of the situation is that when people either resign over principle or are dismissed on a point of principle as was my case, there are many congratulatory emails and phone calls, but it’s never very good for anybody’s diplomatic career.

WERMAN: Peter Galbraith, the former deputy UN envoy to Afghanistan. Thank you very much for your time.

GALBRAITH: Well thank you.

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