Afghanistan sees 4 blasts on poll day

Kabul, Aug 20: While President Hamid Karzai requested the Afghans to ignore Taliban threats and vote in the election, the country witnessed four blasts with no casualties on Thursday, Aug 20.

The upcoming election would be a test not only for Karzai but also for the US President Barack Obama , who is preparing a troop to subjugate the Taliban.

The tense Aghanistan streets have police all round the clock to confront the Talibans, who were uprooted in 2001. Now Talibans have vowed to disturb the election and forbidden Afghans to cast votes.

"Enemies will do their best, but it won't help," Karzai told reporters on Wednesday, Aug 19.

"I hope that tomorrow our countrymen, millions of them, will come and vote for the country's stability, for the country's peace, for the country's progress."

Karzai facing a tough challenge from his former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah won by a wide margin in the last month polls. But Karzai would have to face Abdullah in Oct, 2009 if he is now unable to secure more than 50 per cent.

The Talibans have threatened to place 20 suicide bombers in Kabul and closing all country roads.

US, though agrees the situation to be serious yet, seems to be ready to face the Taliban.

"What we need to do is we need to correct some of the ways we operated in the past and we need to show the kind of resolve that's it going to take, and imagination in some cases, to operate smarter to do this right," said the new commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal to BBC.

The Afghan government has requested not publish any violent incidents from 6 am to 8 pm on election day.

Richard Holbrooke, Obama's envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan said that holding election would be difficult but not impossible.

"The election is difficult to hold in a war-time country. Taliban has said they're going to close them all. But I don't know how many they will succeed in closing," he said.

"No election is perfect. Don't expect a perfect election."

OneIndia News