AFGHANISTAN’S TOP security officials warned they were unable to guarantee the security of this week’s elections, despite efforts to buy off Taliban insurgents.
Abdul Rahim Wardak, the defence minister, said yesterday that the security forces faced a formidable challenge in protecting Thursday’s presidential and provincial elections, but the nation was resolved to go to the polls regardless of the threat from Islamist militants.
“To be 100 per cent sure that you can defend against the type of enemy you are dealing with, which has no respect for human dignity, will be very difficult,” Mr Wardak said.
“There is no doubt that the security forces of the International Security Assistance Forces and those of Afghanistan are not enough to secure this much area.”
The election is proving a much tighter race than had been expected with Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, staging a real challenge to President Hamid Karzai, who has been leading in the polls.
Mr Wardak’s comments came after a suicide bomb attack outside the Nato headquarters in Kabul on Saturday intended to undermine confidence in the safety of about 6,500 polling stations across the country.
The attack struck Kabul’s diplomatic enclave in the heart of the city. It was aimed at one of the most high-profile international targets – the headquarters of the International Security Assistance Forces – as people reported for work.
The blast, the first suicide bomb attack in the capital for eight months, killed eight people and injured close to 100.
The attack shattered an eerie peace in Kabul, that had held in the run-up to the election.
The calm had led many to believe that Taliban insurgents had decided to spare the election a wave of a violence.
Interior ministry officials later said the capital city faced 62 plots in the six months running up to the election, all of which were foiled by the authorities.
The potency of the threat was highlighted yesterday by the deaths of four British soldiers, taking the total Afghanistan death toll to 204 since 2001.
In a bid to protect voters, the Afghan government has promoted efforts to buy a ceasefire from Taliban groups on polling day in the face of threats to disrupt the election.
Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s intelligence chief, said the government had struck deals with some Taliban commanders for them not to attack voters or officials. One senior diplomat confirmed that local cash-based deals were being done with the Taliban to buy peace during the sensitive election period. He said he “cautiously supported” a broader strategy to peel off less ideologically inclined militants and bring an end to the insurgency.
However, the diplomat also warned that the Taliban’s central command remained committed to undermining the election. He said the Quetta Shura had issued instructions for local Taliban commanders to move localities thereby severing their relationships with communities and hardening their fight.
In spite of the security threat, foreign diplomats and election officials in Kabul said it was better to proceed with a flawed and perilous election than no election at all. “There is no backing away,” said a senior UN election official.
About nine of Afghanistan’s 364 districts, mostly in the Pashtun-dominated south, are considered to be outside government control. – (The Financial Times Limited 2009)