Security is tight for Afghanistan’s election
Taliban have vowed to disrupt voting
KABUL — Afghanistan’s enduring poverty and corruption have allowed the Taliban to make inroads nearly 13 years after a U.S.-led invasion ousted them from power.
The militants vow to disrupt Saturday’s nationwide elections with violence, and recent high-profile attacks in the heart of Kabul are designed to show they are capable of doing just that.
If voters turn out in large numbers and the Afghans are able to hold a successful election, that could undermine the Taliban’s appeal by showing democracy can indeed work.
With President Hamid Karzai constitutionally barred from a third term, Afghans will choose a new leader in what promises to be the nation’s first democratic transfer of power. As international combat forces prepare to withdraw by the end of the year, the country is so unstable that the very fact the elections are being held is touted as one of the few successes of Karzai’s tenure.
Nearly 200,000 Afghan security forces planned to fan out Saturday to protect polling stations and voters. On Friday evening, mobile-phone messaging services stopped working in the capital, Kabul, in what appeared to be a security measure by authorities to prevent militants from using messages for attacks.
Three men are considered top contenders — a major shift from past elections dominated by Karzai, who has ruled the country since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
There appear to be no major policy differences toward the West between the front-runners: Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai’s top rival in the last election; Ashraf Ghani Ah- madzai, a former World Bank official; and Zalmai Rassoul, a former foreign minister. All have promised to sign a security deal with the U.S. to allow thousands of foreign troops to remain in the country after 2014.