JALALABAD, Afghanistan, 6 August 2004 — Defying threats by remnants of the Taleban militia and the killing of poll workers, about 90 percent of Afghans have registered to vote in upcoming elections and more are signing up before a deadline. Men and women queued to register to vote across the country yesterday ahead of the Aug. 15 deadline. Security, not the outcome of elections, was their main concern.
“The enemies want to disrupt the election, but we are ready to stop them,” said Akbar Kaka, a middle-aged man with black beard and a traditional flat, round pakul hat. “We will hold the election on time,” he added, after receiving his voter registration card in the eastern city of Jalalabad, scene of recent attacks against election workers claimed by militants.
UN figures show that nearly nine million people have registered to take part in a presidential election on Oct. 9 and parliamentary polls in April, far more than originally expected and remarkable considering the violence of recent months.
Militants launched a series of deadly attacks on poll workers and registrants in the volatile south and east of the country in recent weeks.
In June, a suspected Taleban bombing killed two women poll workers in Jalalabad, and days later four people died after twin explosions in a crowded commercial district of the city.
More than 900 people have been killed in violence in the past year, with many of the deaths blamed on militants opposed to the US-backed government of Hamid Karzai and the presence of foreign troops in the country.
The worst-affected areas are old Taleban heartlands of the south and east, and registration in those areas has lagged. The percentage of women taking part there is also lower than the 42 percent national average. Nawab Khan, another registrant in Jalalabad, echoed the view of many Afghans when he said: “This election is for the security of Afghanistan.”
People are not only worried about militant threats. Factional commanders whose private militias have resisted a nationwide program to disarm could attempt to coerce voters in both elections, Western diplomats warn.
The delay of parliamentary elections until spring was seen as a way of diluting factions’ powers in time for the vote. The presidential election was postponed from June, partly because of security concerns.
UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said the disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) scheme was moving “very slowly”. “We hope that DDR will gain momentum and that this momentum indeed will happen before elections,” he told reporters, adding that 12,500 factional fighters had been disarmed so far.
There are an estimated 40-50,000 private militiamen in Afghanistan, mainly drawn from the Mujahedeen, who fought against the Soviets and the Taleban.
Karzai has called so-called “warlords” heading factional forces a greater threat to stability than militancy. Such comments have angered the factions. Defense Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a powerful Mujahedeen figure, this week threw his support behind former Education Minister and presidential hopeful Yunus Qanuni in the most serious challenge yet to front-runner Karzai.
A vehicle belonging to the electoral commission was attacked in northwest Afghanistan, but the occupants escaped unharmed, UN spokesman said. The vehicle was en route to a registration site for the country’s Kuchi nomad people in Almar district in Faryab province on Monday when it came under fire.
“Upon arrival there was another shooting incident which again resulted in no injuries,” de Silva said at a press conference. “Local police apprehended the perpetrators,” he said. UN road missions in the district have been suspended along with registration for nomadic people in the area until further notice, he added.
