In their latest statement the Taliban have once again threatened Afghans against going to the polling stations. They have extended their threat to officials and employees of Independent Election Commission (IEC) as well. Although this is not a new warning of its kind, it should absolutely not be underestimated. Still there are hundreds of polling stations that are under direct threat of terror attacks. Meanwhile, the Taliban have already killed a number of IEC employees and people working for election campaign teams. The insurgents would not spare life of anyone for extending their ideology which is based on opposing the democratic rights of the people of Afghanistan.

As Afghanistan will near the election date, which is April 5th, the insurgent would put their utmost efforts to enhance their activities across the country. By doing so, they will try to achieve two objectives. Firstly, their purpose will be preventing people from taking part in the election process. Secondly, they would try to reach their favorable environment by the time when most of NATO troops will withdraw from Afghanistan. In their efforts to reach their objectives, the militants would never spare life of innocent people including women and children.

Ministries of Interior and Defense have been encouraging the people to go to the polling stations and vote their favorite candidates for presidential and provincial councils’ seats without having fear of any kind. There is no doubt that Afghanistan National Security Force (ANSF) has launched a number of operations to secure more polling stations and has been making security plans for the upcoming election. Nonetheless, assuming that the enemies of Afghanistan are not making their own plans for disrupting the election would be quite naïve.

This time ANSF will be responsible for security of the election. Providing safe environment for the people for casting their votes is considered one of the toughest challenges for Afghan security forces. Their responsibilities are not merely confined to protecting the polling stations. They must strive to their utmost to ensure security of the voters especially in certain volatile districts of the country. In previous elections there were incidents where the Taliban had chopped off fingers of some voters or had killed them. Recurrence of such awful incidents would definitely result in discouragement of the people.

Insurgents’ threat to the people and IEC employees must be taken as serious. The government must not only make effective security plans but also continue to boost the morale of the people so that they can actively participate in April 5th polls.