| |
Taliban Threaten Afghan Poll Stations 09/05 09:04
The Taliban vowed Sunday to attack polling places in Sept. 18 parliamentary
elections, warning Afghans not to participate in what it called a sham vote.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- The Taliban vowed Sunday to attack polling places
in Sept. 18 parliamentary elections, warning Afghans not to participate in what
it called a sham vote.
Meanwhile, two coalition soldiers --- at least one of them British --- were
killed in fighting in the turbulent south, while a political rival of President
Hamid Karzai questioned his approach to pending talks with rebels who might be
persuaded to abandon the insurgency.
The threat issued Sunday comes just under two weeks before the vote and
follows the announcement of a final list of polling places to be opened around
the country.
"It is only to the benefit of foreigners who want to maintain their
existence in the country by holding such a process and we believe that the
people will not get any benefit out of it," Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid
told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
"That's why we announced to the local people that all Afghan people should
boycott this election and they should not participate on the polling date,"
Mujahid said.
The Taliban position is consistent with those it has taken in the past. The
insurgents seek to topple the government in Kabul and drive foreign troops from
the country, and have boycotted or sought to sabotage all aspects of the
political process.
Taliban threats and intimidation drove down voter turnout in last year's
fraud-marred presidential election, especially in rural areas where security is
harder to ensure, and many Afghans this time say they won't vote for fear of
attacks.
Election officials plan to open 5,897 voting sites, having discarded more
than 900 locations because of security concerns. Last year, 6,167 voting
centers nominally operated.
Voters will choose 249 members of the lower house of parliament from among
more than 2,500 candidates, including dozens of women.
Afghanistan's government and its foreign partners say they hope the
elections will further consolidate the country's shaky democracy and put it on
a path toward long-term political stability, allowing the withdrawal of the
roughly 140,000 NATO-led foreign troops in the country.
The two deaths Sunday bring to seven the number of foreign fighters who have
fallen in Afghanistan this month, five of them Americans. The Ministry of
Defense identified the British soldier as belonging to 1st Battalion, the Royal
Regiment of Scotland, and said he died in a blast in the Nad-e-Ali district of
Helmand province during an operation against insurgents. His name has not been
released.
A total of 88 British troops have died in Afghanistan so far in 2010 --- a
particularly bloody year for the 10,000 British forces in the country ---
bringing the total number of British deaths since the start of the war in 2001
to 333.
NATO gave no details on the second soldier killed, saying only that he died
in fighting in the south.
The southern Afghan provinces of Helmand and Kandahar have seen some of the
heaviest fighting between insurgents and coalition forces seeking to uproot the
Taliban from their long-held strongholds.
With the conflict entering its ninth year, Karzai is hoping talks with weary
insurgents could help divide the Taliban between hardcore members unwilling to
compromise and those who might consider abandoning the insurgency.
However, Abdullah Abdullah, who withdrew from last year's presidential
election, complained that the process was opaque and goals unclear.
"It is being discussed behind the doors and the people of Afghanistan, they
are not aware of what they are up against," Abdullah told reporters at a
meeting in his Kabul home.
"While the majority, an absolute majority, of the people of Afghanistan
would like to see a peaceful situation ... at the same time they want to know
what will happen to them in terms of achieving this. What are the steps that
will take us there?" he said.
Karzai said Saturday he would soon name the members of the High Peace
Council, whose formation was approved in June at a national peace conference in
Kabul. A statement released by his office said the move marks a "significant
step toward peace talks."
The statement said members will include former Taliban, jihadi leaders,
leading figures in Afghan society and women, but gave no other details. They
will be prepared to negotiate with insurgents who renounce violence, honor the
Afghan constitution, and sever ties with terrorist networks.
The Taliban have so far rejected peace talks while foreign troops remain in
the country. Talks held in Kabul and the Maldives with an insurgent group led
by ex-Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar produced no breakthrough.
Though some observers have expressed concern about cutting any sort of deal
with insurgents, foreign governments working to stabilize the Afghan government
and economy have welcomed the move, especially given U.S. plans to begin
withdrawing some of its forces next July.
(KA)
|
|
