contrary to Taliban claims. The U.S. military says militants in the area, bad weather and mountainous wooded terrain have hampered the search. On Friday, the BBC quoted military officials at the main U.S. base in Kunar as saying they had had "several indications" the missing troops were still alive, but O'Hara said the last contact with them had been on Tuesday. The violence has raised concern about the September elections, but organisers say preparations remain on track. On Saturday, they announced that 233 candidates of the more than 6,000 who registered to run in the parliamentary and concurrent local elections had been provisionally disqualified. Of the disqualified, 208 were barred because of their ties to illegal armed groups seen as a significant threat to the vote, the Afghan-U.N. Joint Electoral Management Body said.
