Taliban advance and desire for development of the population make the campaign

Kabul, 14 Aug 2009. - Some 17 million Afghans registered to vote in the second presidential election since the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan, marked by the advance of the Taliban, as well as the desire for reconstruction and development of the population.
"This is one of the most difficult electoral exercises I've seen," said a few days ago to the media on UN special representative in Afghanistan, Kai Eide.
The authorities planned to send almost 3,200 donkeys for carrying the polls to the most inaccessible places in this country of difficult terrain, but anecdotes aside, the main concern is the security situation.
"It's the Taliban factor. We can not expect a high turnout in some areas and provinces. In more than 10 districts will be difficult to hold elections, "said Efe a spokesman for the Afghan Foundation for a Free and Fair Elections (FEFA), Jandar Spinghar.
In recent weeks, international forces have launched several operations in the traditional Taliban stronghold of Helmand (south) in an attempt to ensure security before the presidential elections, the insurgents have decided to boycott.
In Kabul, many citizens complain that the situation has worsened, which recognized the own boss of foreign troops, Stanley McChrystal, who admitted in a recent interview with the newspaper "Wall Street Journal" that the Taliban "have taken advantage. "
The insurgents have a strong presence in much of southern and eastern Afghanistan, areas where the ethnic Pashtun majority, which traditionally come from the Taliban, but also the president, Hamid Karzai, who is running to republish mandate.
Karzai appears with the old "warlord" Tajik Mohammed Fahim as a candidate to vice president, a move that analysts attribute an attempt to split loyalties in the former Northern Alliance and attract the votes of the ethnic Tajik a, the second most populous of Afghanistan.
At the quarry to vote their hopes basa which surveys show to be more potent rival to Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister who worked closely with the guerrilla killed Ahmed Shah Mehsud, the Northern Alliance in their resistance against Taliban prior to the 11-S.
They and another 41 candidates in the running, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, concur the elections as independent and outside the umbrella of political parties, which have matured in just the first-fragile democracy in Afghanistan.
"Tajiks vote the Tajiks. The Pashtuns the Pashtuns. Each to his own, this is the great problem of Afghanistan, "said Kabuli Efe a student during a meeting of Ghani.
Loyalties aside, the difficult terrain and lack of credible data make it almost impossible to venture an accurate forecast beyond the advantage that all analysts attach Karzai, seen for months by various commentators as the "winner inevitable."
The two most recent surveys, conducted in July separately by the International Republican Institute and the U.S. Glevum analysis center, attributed, respectively, Karzai, 44 and 45 percent of the votes determined, 18 and 20 points ahead of Abdullah, but that outcome would require to hold a runoff between the two.
With the anti-Taliban struggle in the hands of international troops and the Afghan army, all candidates are focused on the development, reconstruction and the creation of wealth, while rallies held under tight security conditions.
"They are developing strategies. There are only tactics, "said Efe a western security source on the candidates in the elections, which are held together the elections for provincial councils.
While Kabul is flooded with electoral panels and large images of their candidates, the international troops try to get the 29,000 ballots for voting are emplaced before 20 August, even in areas under Taliban control.
After that date, an account that promises to slow: initial results for the September 3, final 17 this month and the second round, if necessary, for the first week of October.

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Thematic area:

1. Finish the campaign with a massive rally Taliban opposition and called for a boycott
2. A Taliban attack against ISAF headquarters of the Afghan campaign muddies
3. The democratic turn of the old Taliban
4. Afghans elect their president tomorrow with Karzai as favorite
5. Hamid Karzai seeks to re-edit command with a comfortable lead