Afghans go to polls tomorrow

KABUL: Afghans will go to the polls on Saturday to vote in a presidential election that a few expect will have much effect in bringing peace to the war-torn country.

With the Taliban threatening violence against anyone who participates, and concern that the widespread fraud, which blighted previous elections will resurface, analysts fear a low turnout will seriously undermine the result."The security threats, coupled with a trust issue in the election’s transparency, may translate into a very low turnout," Afghanistan analyst Ahmad Saeedi said. “That would undermine the legitimacy of the election process and any future government that may come out of it.”

Pakistan has announced that it was tightening security along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border during the elections. Meanwhile, Afghan authorities imposed a partial lock down on the capital banning trucks from the city’s streets in a bid to prevent suicide bombings ahead of presidential elections on Saturday. The interior ministry said in a statement that security forces were beefing up their presence at checkpoints into the city and would turn trucks back. “The Afghan police forces are manning the entry gates, and are ordered to prevent the entry of trucks into Kabul from today 5:00 pm (1230 GMT),” the statement read.

The move comes the same day as the Taliban issued a statement reiterating previous threats that anyone voting was at risk. The Taliban “intend to disrupt this fake process of the American invaders and their few servile slaves by attacking all security personnel... and by targeting (polling) offices and centers,” the insurgents said. They went on to warn Afghans “to stay away from polling stations on election day and not throw themselves into danger”.