Aghan Taliban order fighters to disrupt vote

Supporters of Afghan Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim attach poster with his image on a wall in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March, 9 2014. AP

KABUL, Afghanistan—The Taliban warned Afghans on Monday against taking part in the upcoming presidential election and ordered their fighters to “use all force” possible to disrupt the vote.

Spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement emailed to media that the Taliban are also telling clerics across to country to spread the word that the election is “an American conspiracy.”

Mujahid’s statement was the Taliban’s first formal threat of violence over the April 5 vote, when Afghanistan elects its next president.

The race is seen as key to the country’s stability ahead of the final withdrawal of international combat troops at the end of December. Previous elections have been fraught with allegations of widespread fraud and some surveys have shown a deep mistrust among most Afghans toward the polling and candidates. President Hamid Karzai is not in the race since he cannot run for a third term.

Monday’s Taliban statement told Afghans they should “reject completely” the election and not put themselves in danger by going to the polls.

Mujahid did not specify what kind of attacks the Taliban planned but in the 2009 presidential election, the militants assaulted and killed election workers, targeted candidates and also attacked voters, in some cases cutting people’s fingers off.

“We have given orders to all our mujahedeen (holy warriors) to use all force at its disposal to disrupt these upcoming sham elections to target all its workers, activists, callers, security apparatus and offices,” the statement said.

It also warned the government against using public buildings, such as mosques and schools, for polling.

Even though it’s the first formal warning, the Taliban have carried out several attacks since the start of the election campaign.

A campaign worker of presidential front-runner, candidate Abdullah Abdullah, was shot and killed in Afghanistan’s western Herat province last month. Also in Herat, a suicide bomber recently attacked Ismail Khan, who is running on the ticket as first vice-president by presidential candidate and powerful warlord Abdul Rasoul Sayyaf.

And in northern Kunduz province, a member of the Independent Election Commission was also shot and killed. The Taliban have taken responsibility for all the election campaign-related attacks, which occurred over the past month.

The interior ministry previously said there may be some polling stations in the restive south of Afghanistan that might not open because of security concerns. No numbers were given.

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