KABUL/ISLAMABAD — With Afghanistan's next presidential election just five months away, authorities say they are facing a possible repeat of the abuses that have discredited the country's efforts to build a democracy. They say they have no idea how many voters are really on the rolls because multiple registrations have resulted in nearly twice as many registered voters as eligible ones, said Noor Mohammed Noor, spokesman for the Independent Election Commission. The registration cards have no expiry date, there is no database to track them, and they are good for any election, he said. Nader Nadery, head of the nonpartisan Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, said it is too early to charge fraud, but “there is a lot of smoke out there . . . the level of suspicion is high.” With foreign troops set to withdraw from Afghanistan at the end of next year, a credible April 6 election would do much to validate the West's efforts over 12 years to foster democracy in the country. Holding an election in a country still reeling from 30 years of conflict and struggling to strengthen weak and often corrupt institutions is a herculean task, say experts and candidates. Taliban threats cast a further damper. “Poor security in parts of the country will make it difficult and dangerous for candidates to campaign, and for voters to go to the polls and vote on election day,” said Wilder. “Poor security, as we saw in the 2009 elections, also makes it difficult for observers and party agents to monitor elections, and provides a great opportunity for ballot-box-stuffing.” While past Taliban warnings have failed to disrupt elections, the insurgents are again threatening to kill candidates, election workers and voters, and there are fears that the approaching departure of foreign troops will sharpen the Taliban's appetite for violence. The threats to the fragile democratic process are reflected in the election commission's Kabul headquarters, surrounded by anti-blast walls, barbed wire and phalanx of security forces in an otherwise ordinary district of the capital. Speaking to The Associated Press in his office here, spokesman Noor says: “This is the reality of this country. We are conducting elections in a difficult situation, with poor security, but we must conduct elections. “It is the only way for our country to succeed.” He said he wished the old registration cards had been thrown out and new ones prepared for this election. Instead, the commission is working on “a badly laid foundation” of an accumulation of cards issued over the course of four presidential and parliamentary elections since 2004, plus a fifth just concluded for next April's poll. Afghan officials in Pakistan for Taliban peace talks Senior Afghan officials arrived in Pakistan on Wednesday to initiate peace talks with the Afghan Taliban following a breakthrough in negotiations during last month's summit in Britain, a Pakistani Foreign Ministry source said. The official would not say if and when they would meet former Taliban No. 2 Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, a man seen by Kabul as the key to restarting peace talks with the Taliban. Baradar has been held in an undisclosed location in Pakistan since Islamabad announced in September that it would release him in order to facilitate the Afghan peace process. “The Afghan peace council has arrived in Islamabad accompanied by some other Foreign and Interior Ministry officials,” the Pakistani official with knowledge of the peace talks told Reuters. “This is a followup of what was decided in London and they will meet officials in the ministries of interior and foreign,” the official said, adding that the delegation arrived in the capital Islamabad in mid-afternoon. — Agencies
