Violence sweeps Afghanistan ahead of poll

THE STANS

Small number of polling centers at risk in Afghan vote: NATO
Less than one percent of Afghanistan's polling stations are at risk of being attacked by insurgents despite a spike in violence two days before elections, the NATO-led coalition said on Tuesday. The Taliban and allied insurgents do not have the capacity to prevent the roughly 17 million Afghans who have registered to vote from taking part in the election, Canadian Brigadier General Eric Tremblay, spokesman for the coalition, told reporters by video link from Kabul. He said the average number of daily attacks by insurgents had increased from about 32 earlier this month to 48 in the past four days. Given that there are about 6,500 polling centers and the maximum level of attacks had reached 48 in a day, he said it appeared the insurgents had the ability to threaten less than one percent -- or less than 65 -- of polling stations. "Chances are, when you're looking purely at statistics, that they're not going to be able to attack even one percent of the entire polling sites in this country," Tremblay said. Islamist insurgents staged more lethal suicide bombings in the capital Kabul on Tuesday and have threatened to disrupt Thursday's presidential and provincial vote. Troops in the NATO-led coalition along with Afghan forces had carried out "numerous" operations in recent months to try to improve security before the election, Tremblay said. "Despite the best plans in place, there will always be some residual risk," he said. Afghan forces are taking the lead in providing security for the ballot, with troops in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) playing a supporting role, Australian Brigadier General Damian Cantwell told reporters in the same video conference. Afghan police would provide the "first-tier" of security, with Afghan National Army units stationed nearby, said Cantwell, chief of ISAF's election task force. The police will "be within close proximity in and around the polling center locations" while Afghan army troops would be posted "within a reasonably short distance from the polling center," he said. ISAF forces would be deployed at a greater distance from the polling station and would be ready to assist the Afghans quickly if needed with aircraft or ground troops, he said. Afghan voters "will move through a series of checkpoints" set up by the Afghan army and then police checkpoints nearer to the polling station, he said. "As they approach the location, there will be a series of further checkpoints and security procedures to reduce or mitigate against the risk of insurgents moving to close proximity of the polling centers," he said. "In particular, what the security forces are looking for are evidence of suicide bombers or, of course, any hidden or perhaps even covert weapon they might be carrying with them," the Australian general said. (AFP Report). Photo courtesy AFP.

by Staff Writers
Kabul, Afghanistan (UPI) Aug 18, 2009
The Taliban's wave of mayhem in Afghanistan so close to Thursday's presidential elections did not spare even the heavily guarded capital of Kabul, where, to prove its daring, the militant group put on its show in front of NATO headquarters.

The Saturday suicide car bomb attack targeting the alliance's International Security Assistance Force center killed seven people and wounded about 90 more, including some coalition service people. The attack reportedly was only the second such in the capital since the Taliban regime's ouster in 2001.

The elections, which the citizens have been warned by the Taliban to boycott, will see President Hamid Karzai, seeking a second term, go after a number of opponents, chief among them Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, an ophthalmologist and a former foreign minister; Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister and a World Bank official with a Ph.D. from Columbia University; and Ramazan Bashardost, described as a populist reformer. Polls for provincial assemblies also are set for Thursday.

The current experiment in democracy in the desperately poor, backward and predominantly Muslim country of about 34 million with a low literacy rate began after the Taliban regime's downfall. However, five years of the Karzai government, beset by corruption and inefficient bureaucracy, has failed to check the Taliban resurgence despite the huge investment both in manpower and material of the U.S.-led NATO forces.

U.S. President Barack Obama has called the Afghan election the most important event of the year in Afghanistan, The Washington Post reported.

U.S. and British forces while seeking to ensure safe elections have taken heavy casualties, with the Taliban's violent methods to disrupt the elections becoming more sophisticated. July was the deadliest month for U.S. troops with a total of 44 soldiers killed. Britain has lost more than 200 of its troops since 2001.

For a sampling of the Taliban's latest acts of pre-election violence besides Saturday's Kabul attacks, the Pajhwok Afghan News agency reported at least 32 people died during the weekend in southern Afghanistan. Officials said those killed included five election campaigners, two Afghan soldiers and 25 militants. But the Taliban's Zabihullah Mujahid denied militant casualties, saying those killed included 12 Afghan soldiers.

In other attacks, police said an officer and six insurgents died Saturday in southern Ghazni province, PAN reported. But the Taliban's Mujahid claimed nine policemen were killed.

Last week two roadside explosions in southern Afghanistan killed 14 people, including women and children.

The elections, which were to have been held in April, were delayed until now because of security concerns.

Despite the sharp rise in violence, there is hope voters will ignore Taliban warnings and turn out in large numbers Thursday. Karzai, currently the front-runner, needs to win more than 50 percent of the votes to avoid a runoff.

Condemning the Kabul attacks, Karzai said Afghans "are fully aware of the value of the elections and will cast their votes for the sake of security and peace in their country," CNN reported.

The latest poll by the International Republican Institute showed Karzai would win 44 percent of the votes, still short of the required 50 percent but up from 31 percent in May. However, the poll also showed Abdullah moving up, winning 26 percent of the votes, up from 7 percent in May. Ashraf Ghani and Bashardost were trailing far behind.

The Times of London said a runoff could divide the country along ethnic lines as Karzai is from the Pashtun majority in the south, while Abdullah is more closely associated with the Tajik north.

A top Afghan official told CNN elders and religious leaders in the south were holding talks with local Taliban leaders for an election truce, but the outcome is not known.

Separately, PAN quoted the head of the Afghanistan Tribal Solidarity Council that about 2,000 tribesmen planned to guard the polling stations Thursday in the remote districts.

Karzai's performance has caused frustration among U.S. officials, The Washington Post reported, quoting U.S. and Afghan officials. Thus, while maintaining relations with Karzai if he wins, the Obama administration may rely less on him and work more closely with favored ministers.

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THE STANS

US looks to bolster combat troops in Afghanistan
Washington (AFP) Aug 18, 2009
The United States on Tuesday looked for ways to bolster combat troops in Afghanistan as President Barack Obama warned the war would not be "quick" and violence threatened this week's election. With Afghans heading into crucial presidential elections Thursday, US defense officials said the commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, was weighing cutting back ... read more

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