Afghan polls postponed after killing of police chief

Kandahar delays vital vote by a week as Taliban intensifies campaign to disrupt election

VOTING has been postponed for a week in Afghanistan’s second city after the Taliban assassinated a police chief. As the troubled country braced itself for insurgent violence at today’s parliamentary election polls, Taliban leaders moved to further disrupt the process by ordering voters to stay at home.

The vote is seen as a test of President Ashraf Ghani’s grip on Afghanistan after a grim year of soaring casualties among his forces and civilians, and renewed gains by the Taliban.

Preparations were dealt a severe blow on Thursday when Gen Abdul Razik, the police chief in Kandahar, was shot dead by a bodyguard in an insider attack during a meeting with US commander General Scott Miller, who escaped unharmed. The local intelligence chief was also killed and the provincial governor critically wounded. Three Americans were injured.

Yesterday, Kandahar, once the stronghold of the Taliban, was on edge as funerals were held and officials decided to postpone voting for a week.

The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the election across Afghanistan and yesterday ordered the population to “remain indoors and desist from bringing out any means of transport”. More than nine million Afghans are due to vote in only the third parliamentary poll since the Taliban was ousted in 2001.

Dr Ghani’s international backers, particularly the US, are desperate for signs of stability and progress after 17 years of pouring troops and money into the country.

Around 2,500 candidates are standing for 249 seats in a parliament which has a reputation for graft and greed.

This year’s polls have already been delayed since 2015 because of rifts within the government and rows about how to clean up the voting system.

The vote will result in a new generation of election hopefuls, many younger and better educated than previous candidates, taking on an old guard frequently tainted with accusations of corruption or involvement in the Nineties civil war.

But the new generation also contains candidates whose fathers were among the leading Mujahideen warlords.

Jamaluddin Hekmatyar, 42, whose father Gulbuddin is remembered for indiscriminately bombarding Kabul as he squabbled with former comrades, is standing as a member of his father’s Hezb-e Islami party.

Many Afghans are wary of the possible rise of those whose fathers presided over the destruction of the Nineties.

One Herat resident said: “They are just a shadow of their dads. Mujahideen leaders want to rule their policies through their children.

“They are all educated in the West by the money their dads received by selling the blood of innocent Afghans.”