Afghan forces ready to secure polls in Helmand

LASHKARGAH (Pajhwok): Thousands of armed militants have been planning to disrupt the presidential runoff vote in southern Helmand province, but Afghan forces have adopted all necessary measures to thwart their evil designs, an official said on Friday.

Major. Gen. Muhammad Naeem Momin, the provincial National Directorate of Security (NDS had worked out their strategies to make the process a failure.

He said there were 550 militant groups involving 8,740 fighters making their last ditch effort to sabotage the crucial election.

The spy chief continued rebels benefited from the income of poppy crops in Helmand, where the Taliban were in control of Baghran and Desho districts and held sway in a number of other districts.

But despite all these challenges, he assured, security forces had chalked out stringent security plans to thwart nefarious designs of rebels.

Deputy Interior Minister Gen. Mohammad Ayub Salangi said Afghan security forces were ready to secure the historic cote and foil militants’ attacks.

He said militants had not been watching the previous elections as silent spectators, but their plans to sabotage the polls were successfully reversed.

rm/ma

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