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Afghanistan’s April 5 presidential election provides limited but promising evidence of political progress, as United States military combat forces prepare to depart later this year. Turnout of approximately sixty percent of eligible voters was high, despite Taliban intimidation and violence. The national election commission has testified that corruption has been much reduced from the 2009 presidential election

Incumbent President Hamid Karzai is prevented by law from running again, and early returns returns favor opposition political leader Abdullah Abdullah and World Bank veteran Ashraf Ghani, among a field of eight candidates.

Both vow to continue security cooperation with the U.S. after the current agreement ends in December. In recent months, unpredictable Karzai has vocally refused to continue the cooperation.

Once a clear winner is identified, Afghanistan will have completed a peaceful democratic transition in leadership. This is an historic first.

The Taliban continues to cause limited disruption. Insurgents mounted hundreds of attacks in disparate locations, but no major government installations were struck. By contrast, last June Afghanistan rebels detonated a car bomb and battled security forces in front of the presidential palace, the most heavily guarded installation in the country. Penetrating that security apparatus was a major success.

The Taliban claimed responsibility but the attackers may actually have been from the Haqqani network, an affiliated group close to Al-Qaida. Simultaneously, in southern Afghanistan a minibus detonated an explosive device, killing eleven members of a single family. Beyond such spectacular raids, the Taliban have failed to capture and hold any significant territory.

Despite the policy disagreements and insurgent attacks, institutional ties between Afghanistan and the U.S. have actually strengthened. In a July 2012 visit to Kabul, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced Afghanistan and the U.S have become formal allies. This relationship goes beyond the long-term but limited multilateral effort to stabilize the nation, under United Nations and NATO authority.

As a result, Afghanistan joined fourteen other nations in the distinctive, special category of Strategic Partner of the U.S. These include Argentina, Australia, Israel and Japan. Other partners are notably stronger economically, and more stable politically, than Afghanistan.

The bilateral partnership brings closer cooperation encompassing regular delivery of military equipment, supplies and weapons. This in turn becomes more important as the insurgency persists.

After the announcement, Secretary Clinton and President Karzai jointly attended a conference in Tokyo, where donor nations pledged $16 billion in new development assistance. Foreign aid is perennially unpopular among the American people, yet remains an important source of political leverage as well as economic progress.

The lengthy and often frustrating nature of the South Asia struggle can mask such positive political changes as reasonably honest elections, and growing participation of women. Despite lack of infrastructure, technology is spreading steadily. Cellphones and the Internet, as well as traditional television, are now features of isolated communities.

History is instructive. While the heavy-handed disastrous Soviet military invasion and consequent defeat in the 1980s is well known, the more complex long-term involvement of Britain is generally neglected.

Through the 19th century, sizable British military expeditions experienced frustration in Afghanistan. However, London eventually was successful in achieving reasonable cooperation with Kabul through economic aid, limited military operations and — above all — astute diplomacy.

With U.S. and NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, focus shifts to economic and diplomatic tools. Whatever the formal ties, both Americans and Afghans should recognize the latter ultimately will determine — and face responsibility for — the course of their own country.

Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of “After the Cold War.” He can be reached at acyr@carthage.edu.