KABUL, Sep 20: The US military commander in Afghanistan on Tuesday warned of more bloodshed in coming weeks following last weekend’s landmark parliamentary elections.

“We can expect more fighting in the weeks ahead, as the enemy attempts to return Afghanistan to the dark days,” Gen Karl Eikenberry, commander of the 20,000-strong US-led forces, told reporters in Kabul.

But the general said his troops, along with 10,000 NATO-led peacekeepers and tens of thousands of Afghan security forces, would continue ‘to defend this process until the seating of the parliament and beyond’.

“Coalition forces working with Afghan national police and army and NATO will stand against enemies and continue to participate in the process,” he said. “Our first goal is to defeat Taliban and terrorist networks.”

Remnants of the Taliban and other militant groups oppose US-backed President Hamid Karzai’s government and had threatened to derail Sunday’s ballot, the country’s first in more than 30 years. Nine people were killed on Saturday and Sunday, some of them militants, but there were no major attacks against polling booths.

“Our second goal is to create the conditions here so that terrorist networks and Taliban could not come back,” said the commander.

Some six million Afghans, about half of registered voters, took part in Sunday’s elections, and final results are expected late next month.

“Afghan people were not deterred from exercising their right,” said the general, who praised progress made since the 2001 US-led invasion.

“Afghan people and the international community have done a lot in four years,” said Gen Eikenberry. “But much work remains to be done ... The fight here is not primarily a military fight. The effort here is to stand up a government able to have reconstruction, security and justice.” —AFP