Report: Violence could delay Afghan elections

[unhappycamper]

Report: Violence could delay Afghan elections
By Drew Brown, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Thursday, January 29, 2009

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan — Faltering security and rising Taliban violence throughout Afghanistan could delay elections planned for later this year and put the international mission here at risk of failure, according to a leading think tank.

In its annual publication, "The Military Balance," the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies warned that the war in Afghanistan is entering its most critical phase since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.

But the western-backed government of President Hamid Karzai remains unable to extend its authority to outlying provinces, the group said Tuesday in a statement that accompanied its 2009 global military assessment.

"Against this background there is a risk that it will not be possible to hold elections, or voter turnout may below the minimum necessary for the ballot to be valid," said John Chipman, the group’s director-general. "The integrity of the whole international mission in Afghanistan is therefore very substantially at stake."

Presidential elections are to take place in the fall, with parliamentary elections in 2010.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60309