A rash of election-related kidnappings hit Afghanistan today despite tightened security on the eve of a parliamentary poll the Taliban has vowed to disrupt.
Officials said 19 abductions were carried out today alone, as reports of violence and kidnapping spread from Afghanistan's west to east. The capital, Kabul, was relatively quiet under a security clampdown.
Noor Mohammad Noor, a spokesman for Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC), said a candidate had been kidnapped in eastern Laghman province. The Taliban claimed responsibility.
Qari Safiullah, another candidate in western Herat, had been missing for the past three days along with three campaign workers, Safiullah's family said.
Eight IEC officials and 10 campaign workers were kidnapped in northwestern Badghis province.
The abductions came despite security preparations being ramped up across the country before the vote, a key test after a deeply flawed presidential ballot last year, which looks set to test the resolve of voters in the face of Taliban threats.
Almost 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police are providing security for the poll, backed by some 150,000 foreign troops. Yesterday, the Taliban renewed its threat to attack foreign and Afghan targets and urged voters to stay away.
"We should try to do our best under the current circumstances. It is very important that the Afghan people come out and vote," Afghan president Hamid Karzai told reporters.
Preliminary results from tomorrow’s voting will not be known until October 8th at the earliest, with final results not expected before October 30th.
Significant security failures would be a major setback, with Washington watching closely before US president Barack Obama conducts a war strategy review in December which will probably examine the pace and scale of US troop withdrawals.
In northern Kunduz, Afghan and Nato-led troops killed a Taliban commander who was planning election attacks, the coalition said. A mosque to be used as a polling station was hit by rocket fire in Logar, south of Kabul, IEC officials said.
Observers fear security worries could lead to a low voter turnout, as it did last year when the Taliban staged dozens of attacks but failed to disrupt the process entirely.
However, voter turnout was very low in the south and east where Pashtuns, Afghanistan's main ethnic group, dominate and where the Taliban has its strongest support.
Reuters