[The Taliban warning seemed likely to further slow the pace of campaigning. The elections have already been delayed twice because of poor management and bickering within the government, led by President Ashraf Ghani.]
By
Sayed Salahuddin
 |
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Afghan
women attend an election campaign event for presidential candidate
Ashraf Ghani in
Kabul on Monday. (Rafiq Maqbool/AP)
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KABUL
— Taliban militants
announced Tuesday that they intend to disrupt Afghanistan’s presidential
campaign and Sept. 28 polls. Their statement came just hours after U.S. envoy
Zalmay Khalilzad reported “excellent progress” during talks with the insurgents
in Qatar.
The Taliban urged voters to stay away from
election-related events, saying it did not want to harm them. But after a bomb
and gun attack July 28 killed 20 people at the Kabul office of one vice
presidential candidate, Afghan media reported that another candidate has
canceled a rally planned near the capital.
In a statement on its website, the Taliban
said the elections would have “no legitimacy” because the country is “under
occupation.” It called the elections “a ploy to deceive the common people” and
said the “ultimate decision-making power” lies with foreigners who it said are
running the process.
The Taliban warning seemed likely to further
slow the pace of campaigning. The elections have already been delayed twice
because of poor management and bickering within the government, led by
President Ashraf Ghani.
Many Afghans think the vote may be postponed
again because of the acceleration of talks between the Taliban and U.S.
officials, although Ghani, who is seeking reelection, has said he is determined
that it be held on schedule. In addition to the presidential vote, delayed
parliamentary elections are scheduled to be held in embattled Ghazni province.
In a statement Tuesday, Ghani’s office said
that Afghans “will attend the poll centers and cast their vote to directly
elect their future leader and to disgrace the enemies of their freedom.” A
spokesman for the Interior Ministry said the government will use all of its
resources to protect “the candidates and the election process.”
In its statement, the Taliban alluded
positively to the peace talks, saying that “negotiations are underway to bring
an end to the occupation and arrangements for intra-Afghan understanding are
being put into place.” The elections, the group said, are aimed only at
“satisfying the ego of a limited number of sham politicians.”
Combining expressions of concern and threats,
the Taliban said that to “prevent losses . . . from being incurred by our fellow
compatriots, they must stay away from gatherings and rallies that could become
potential targets.”
Taliban insurgents have attacked previous
elections, causing two provinces to suspend voting in parliamentary polls last
year. No group claimed the July 28 attack at the office of Amrullah Saleh, a
former intelligence chief who is running on Ghani’s ticket, but he publicly
blamed the Taliban.
Amnesty International, the London-based
rights group, condemned the Taliban’s threat against election rallies. That
“demonstrates a chilling disregard for human life,” Amnesty said in a
statement. “Afghans must be allowed to exercise their rights.”
U.S. officials have said they hope to
conclude a peace agreement with the Taliban by early September, in part so that
elections can take place. But they have also said they place an equally high
priority on both processes.
President Trump said recently that he hoped
to see American troops leave Afghanistan before the U.S. presidential election
in 2020, but many Afghans have expressed concern that a hasty troop departure
would give too much power to the insurgents.
Taliban officials have insisted on a U.S.
timetable to withdraw all troops before they will meet with Afghan officials.
But Khalilzad, who heads the U.S. peace negotiation team, has repeatedly said
that the withdrawal will be based on the Taliban meeting certain conditions.
In a tweet Tuesday, he said he spent the past
several days in Qatar, “focused on the remaining issues in completing a
potential deal with the Taliban that would allow for a conditions-based troop
withdrawal” from Afghanistan.
“We have made excellent progress,” Khalilzad
said.
Pamela Constable in Islamabad, Pakistan,
contributed to this report.
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