KABUL, 4 October 2004 — Afghan guards backed by US helicopter gunships raided a Taleban safe house, killing one man and arresting 15, to prevent attacks during this week’s presidential election, officials said yesterday.
The raid on Saturday night near the town of Spin Boldak came a day after 60 Taleban fighting planning to disrupt the election were intercepted nearby as they slipped across the border from Pakistan.
Local Afghan border guard commander Abdul Raziq said his men raided the house after a strafing run by US helicopter gunships. One man was killed and nine were wounded.
In Kabul, the United Nations said the election campaign had been marred by intimidation and official partiality, but it expected the vote to be relatively free and fair.
As the candidates, their supporters and security forces prepared for the Oct. 9 poll, President Hamid Karzai received a boost from one of his predecessors, Burhanuddin Rabbani, who heads the Jamiat-e-Islami, a major Islamic faction. “In the light of previous agreements, Jamiat emphasizes and announces its support once again for Karzai’s candidacy,” said Rabbani, president in the mid-1990s after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and the ouster of Moscow’s protégé, Najibullah.
His support was not unexpected since his son-in-law, Ahmad Zia Masood, is Karzai’s running mate, but Rabbani reminded the president to abide by agreements with the Jamiat to maintain Islamic values, counter foreign influences and crack down on corruption.
Karzai, one of 18 candidates, has barely campaigned because of security constraints. He escaped an assassination attempt last month in the southeast, blamed on the Taleban — ousted from power by US-led forces in 2001 for refusing to hand over Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden.
Yesterday, Karzai left for Berlin to accept an international award. He will return today.
The United Nations, which has made a study of the Afghan political situation along with the local human rights commission, said there were several instances of intimidation and partiality shown to particular candidates by government officials during the campaign. The UN report said local officials in many areas were favoring either Karzai or his main challenger Yunus Qanuni.
“These less positive elements, perhaps inevitable after 25 years of war, are balanced not only by the fact that Afghans now have political choices before them but above all by the overwhelming wish of Afghans to vote and to create a government that represents their concerns,” said Filippo Grandi, deputy special UN representative in Afghanistan.
“People are very eager to vote,” he told reporters, but added: “It’s a mixed picture. You are asking me if the environment is entirely free and fair. Of course it is not.
“But in balance people can cast their vote in most areas of the country with a relative degree of freedom and fairness.”
Over 10.5 million Afghans have registered to vote. About 300,000 to 500,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan and another 600,000 in Iran are also eligible to participate.
Karzai is seen likely to get the most votes, but it is unclear if he will muster the 51 percent needed for an outright win. If no one gets a majority, the top two candidates will contest a runoff election in November.
