KABUL: Taliban militants threatened on Monday to disrupt Afghanistan’s crucial parliamentary elections on Oct. 20 because they were part of US efforts to maintain a presence in the country.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the polls were a “malicious American conspiracy” and urged voters to boycott them.
“People who are trying to help in holding this process successfully by providing security should be targeted and no stone should be left unturned for the prevention and failure” of the election, he said.
The new warning follows months of silence from the group over its stance on elections, which have already been delayed by more than three years amid deadlock in talks between the Taliban and US emissaries.
Extremists have targeted elections in Afghanistan since the ousting of the Taliban regime in a US-led invasion in 2001. The group still controls a large swath of territory in rural areas and the government has not been able to secure more than 2,000 polling stations because of security threats.
A recent surge of violent attacks by the Taliban and Daesh on election activity has claimed scores of lives, including seven political candidates.
The Taliban warning comes as the newly appointed US special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad visits Kabul and Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia and the UAE, in efforts to bring the Taliban and the Afghan government to the dialogue table.
Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said the government had implemented strong security arrangements for the election and the Taliban threat “cannot prevent the convocation of polls or pose any challenge for us.”
“We have sufficient security measures and a security belt in place to block the disruption of the process,” he told Arab News.
However, Waheed Mozhdah, an analyst who was an official during the Taliban rule, said the militants posed a threat because they controlled far more territory than in previous elections.
“The sphere of Taliban control has expanded this time and they can cause more destruction now,” he told Arab News.
Security analyst Gen. Atiqullah Amarkhail said: “The government says it has 52,000 security forces ready to be deployed. If they act with discipline and unity then the enemy will not be able to do much, but if they act poorly, then the enemy can plant mines, block roads, conduct suicide attacks and attack voters.”
