KABUL, 17 July 2004 — US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage yesterday hailed Afghanistan’s preparations for landmark elections and said the region’s security depended on stability in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan is to hold a presidential election on Oct. 9 and parliamentary elections in April. The US-backed government had hoped to hold the polls in June, then September, but logistical and security problems forced delays.

Afghanistan’s first direct, free and fair elections, are seen as a crucial test of US nation-building efforts. Armitage inspected election preparations and said he had found “infectious and overwhelming” enthusiasm.

More than 7 million of an estimated electorate of nearly 10 million have registered to vote so far, despite militant attacks and threats, and 40 percent of those registering are women, UN figures show. “This is a phenomenal achievement and it’s not over,” Armitage told reporters.

US President George W. Bush has praised Afghanistan as a model for Iraq and a successful Afghan vote in October would give his administration a foreign policy success ahead of the US presidential election in November. Taleban fighters and their militant allies have vowed to disrupt the elections and more than 800 people have been killed in attacks over the last year, including some election workers and people found in possession of voting cards.

Armitage said the United States and its allies had sufficient troops in Afghanistan to ensure stability. Several thousand US forces in Afghanistan began a military operation this week aimed at providing security for the election.

The United States has about 17,500 troops in the country hunting Taleban fighters and al Qaeda leaders. Another 2,000 troops from various countries are working with US forces. Armitage held talks in India and Pakistan before traveling to Afghanistan.

He praised a recent Pakistani offensive against foreign Al-Qaeda-linked militants along its border with Afghanistan, but said concern persisted about Taleban fighters slipping into Afghanistan. “There is a question of Taleban activity,” he said.

“It is not one we feel is sponsored by the (Pakistani) government, but the question is if these Taleban elements are able to freely cross into Afghanistan to conduct destabilizing activities, this is clearly not in Afghanistan’s interest, and it’s not in Pakistan’s interest. Stability in Afghanistan equals stability in the region,” he told reporters in Kabul after meeting President Hamid Karzai. “I don’t see how Pakistan can have the stable and prosperous future that President (Pervez) Musharraf wishes for his nation unless that same stability and prosperity exists here.”

Asked about an investigation into reports of prisoner abuse in US-run jails in Afghanistan, Armitage said the US government and people had been horrified by the abuse that had taken place in prisons in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“This is why investigation into these matters is taken so seriously and this is why the president, secretary of defense and secretary of state have all indicated that those implicated in such actions will be punished. This is corrosive to the soul of the United States.”

The US military has also begun investigating an allegation that a member of US-led forces assaulted an Afghan government soldier during training. The preliminary inquiry, launched this week, will determine if there is enough evidence to substantiate a more formal investigation, and possibly formal charges, a US spokesman said yesterday.

The US military has been under intense scrutiny for its treatment of militant suspects following revelations of ill-treatment of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan and at the Guantanamo Bay US naval base in Cuba. The military says it has investigated five deaths of prisoners in Afghanistan since August 2002.

A US military review of its prison system in Afghanistan was launched after allegations of abuse by former detainees, including a former policeman who said he was beaten and sexually abused. A report is expected this month. The soldier from the government’s fledgling Afghan National Army who was allegedly assaulted did not have any injuries requiring hospital treatment, the US military said.

In a separate incident, some ANA soldiers have been arrested and handed over to police in connection with the killing of two people in Ghor province, the Ministry of Defense said. The ministry did not say how many soldiers had been held or identify the two people killed in the Wednesday incident.