Attacks won’t deter Afghans from voting: President

KABUL (Pajhwok): Condemning the latest terrorist attacks in Kabul, President Hamid Karzai said foreign intelligence networks were out to sabotage the landmark elections scheduled to be held next week.

Such attacks would not deter Afghans from participating in the elections and the political process to rebuild their country, the president said in a statement from his office.

He hoped millions of Afghans would stream to polling stations to exercise their constitutionally-mandated right to elect a future head of state.

Presidential and provincial polls would be conducted on schedule, he promised, saying the enemies of peace in Afghanistan would not succeed in achieving their nefarious designs through violence.

He directed the officials concerned to extend all possible assistance to the family of a minor girl, who was killed in Friday’s insurgent attack on a guest house.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) also condemned the attack on the IEC and confirmed its own neighbouring base was hit by small arms fire.

All UN staff members are accounted for and reported safe, a UNAMA statement said. The mission reiterated that electoral institutions and their staff should not be the targets of deliberate attacks.

“Resorting to violence to intimidate citizens from exercising their democratic rights is an admission that you have lost the ability to win over people through political persuasion,” said the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan Nicholas Haysom.

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