Taliban ask Afghans to boycott elections

KANDAHAR: The Taliban demanded on Thursday that Afghans boycott August 20 presidential elections and instead ‘free their invaded country’ through holy war.

In a media statement, the Islamist militia ordered its fighters to block all roads on the eve of Afghanistan’s second presidential ballot and stop voters from going to polling stations.

‘To achieve real independence instead of going to fake election centres, they must go to jihadi trenches, and through resistance and jihad they must free their invaded country from the invaders,’ the statement said.

A surge in attacks by Taliban and other militants battling the government and allied Western troops has raised concerns that insecurity will lead to poor voter turnout and throw the election’s legitimacy into doubt.

The Taliban statement called for attacks on ‘enemy centres’, understood to refer mainly to bases of Western and Afghan forces.

The Taliban, however, did not directly order strikes on voting centres, according to an e-mailed copy of the Pashto-language statement seen by AFP.

Mujahideen ‘must launch operations against enemy centres,’ said the statement signed by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, which means the Taliban.

‘They must prevent people from attending the elections and one day before the elections all roads and highways must be totally closed to government and civilian vehicles, and they must inform people,’ it said.

Thursday’s statement was released two days after the top UN official in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, urged the Taliban not to disrupt the elections, acknowledging there were ‘significant’ security concerns.

The Taliban labelled the poll a US ‘invention’ and a farce, accusing Afghan President Hamid Karzai of not having the courage to stand up to US ambitions in Afghanistan and telling its fighters to attack election-related targets and stop people from voting.

There have been three attacks against candidates or campaign officials in the past week, including Karzai’s vice presidential running mate Mohammad Qasim Fahim, the leader of US-backed Afghan forces that ousted the Taliban.

Karzai is a clear front-runner to win the poll ahead of a field of 36 challengers -- four have withdrawn from the original list -- with former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and ex-finance minister Ashraf Ghani among few serious contenders.