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KABUL, March 28: Afghanistan's presidential and parliamentary elections, originally planned for June, will be held in September, President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday, after the United Nations said it was concerned about poll security.
The decision to postpone the vote came after the United Nations said both the presidential and parliamentary elections could not be held in June, as outlined in an international agreement that brought Karzai to power in late 2001.
Instead, the United Nations and Afghan election authorities had recommended both elections be held in September. "They said that they can hold the presidential and parliamentary elections simultaneously, which was the wish of all of us," Karzai told reporters, referring to the United Nations and the Afghan election committee.
"Therefore, they have proposed the dates of late Mizan (early September) and Sunbola (mid September) and we have agreed with them and said that it is okay," he said.
The timing and conduct of the Afghan election is important as analysts believe US President George W. Bush is looking to the polls for a foreign policy success story ahead of his own re-election bid in November.
Under the 2001 Bonn agreement that led to the establishment of Karzai's government, elections were seen in June, but that date was no longer considered viable given slow registration of voters and security worries.
The United Nations had suggested a July election might not provide enough time to organize security to ensure a safe vote, a presidential spokesman said last week.
"The UN says that the later the election is held, the safer it is likely to be," said the spokesman, Jawed Ludin. Security worries were heightened by recent fighting between pro-government forces in the western city of Herat, until then considered one of the most peaceful parts of the country.
A DISTRACTION: The Taliban, driven from power by US-led forces in 2001, has already threatened to disrupt the polls and more than 600 people have been killed in militant-related violence in the south and east of the country since last August.
A Taliban spokesman said in a statement issued late on Saturday a delay in the elections was an embarrassment for the United States and the Karzai government, and the election was aimed at distracting Afghans from jihad.
The United States said on Thursday it would add about 2,000 Marines to the 13,500-strong US-led foreign force in Afghanistan to intensify the hunt for Al Qaeda and Taliban fugitives and boost security ahead of elections.
On Friday, the UN Security Council renewed the mandate of the United Nations civilian operation in Afghanistan for a year and urged the country to speed up voter registration that would include women and refugees.
The announcement of September elections came a day before Karzai was due to leave for a meeting of Afghanistan's aid donors in Berlin. -Reuters
