KABUL, 21 June 2004 — Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed yesterday to hold historic post-Taleban elections as scheduled but warned the nation would face more attacks from the country’s “enemies” before the polls.
Karzai said his government was committed to holding presidential and parliamentary elections “in the specified time” despite increasing insecurity across the war-scarred country.
Pressed on when the exact election date would be, Karzai said only “Mizan”, the month of the Afghan calendar which corresponds to Sept. 22 to Oct. 21.
“You should have no doubt that the enemies of Afghanistan ... will try their best to prevent elections happening. They will send terrorists, they will martyr our people and disturb security,” Karzai told journalists at the presidential palace. “We should expect more attacks on our people, aid organizations and reconstruction.”
A bomb, hidden in a briefcase, exploded near a girls’ school in Kunduz city on Saturday, but caused no casualties, the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency said quoting Kunduz Governor Mohammed Omar.
Omar also told AIP a 19-year-old man named Bakhtyar had been arrested in connection with the June 10 attack in the province that killed 11 Chinese workers. He said the suspect had worked with the Chinese and non-governmental organizations as a translator and had revealed important information that might lead to the killers.
The president asked Afghans to be tolerant and patient in the lead-up to the landmark democratic elections, which were originally due in June but delayed for logistical and security reasons.
The presidential and parliamentary polls were then scheduled to be held together in September but there are concerns that the vote for the lower house might be delayed for logistical reasons.
Karzai was speaking following his return from the United States where he attended the G8 summit and met with US President George W. Bush.
Before returning to Afghanistan he also met with the regional security-focused Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Uzbekistan.
Deteriorating security is a major challenge ahead of elections and there have been increased attacks on aid workers, reconstruction companies and Afghan government installations.
