Taliban threaten Afghanistan's election.

Full report from The Guardian


"Night letters' from the Taliban threaten Afghan democracy

As the nation's first election since the American invasion approaches, the former rulers are using intimidation and murder to destroy the 'infidel'vote. Declan Walsh reports from Uruzgan

Declan Walsh in Uruzgan, Afghanistan
Sunday September 19, 2004
The Observer

The photocopied notices appeared on the blue mosque door in Uruzgan, a small town below a line of jagged mountains, early on Friday morning. Pinned up by an unknown hand under cover of darkness, their local name - 'night letters' - has an almost romantic ring. Their message does not.

'A holy war has been declared against the infidel,' announced the first letter, attached to the door with black tape. Christians, led by the US, were invading, said the second. Any Afghan working with them would be 'severely punished', warned the third. At the bottom of each was a common signature: 'The Taliban'.

Three weeks before Afghanistan's presidential election, the black-turbaned Taliban are intensifying efforts to scupper the vote. Hunted by 18,000 US-led soldiers and scattered throughout the southern provinces, the insurgents have turned to a dual tactic of assassination and intimidation.

More than 30 election workers have been killed across the country. Two weeks ago a car bomb exploded in Kabul, killing three American security guards and at least nine other people. Then this week the US-backed interim president, Hamid Karzai - favourite to win the 9 October poll - became the target.

Last Thursday, a rocket narrowly missed Karzai's helicopter as it landed in the south-east town of Gardez. The tightly protected Karzai was forced to abandon the rally, his first of the campaign. A day later police arrested three Taliban suspects and found explosives and detonators......"