Afghan voters brave violence as presidential election begins

Afghan voters brave violence as presidential election begins

Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah poses as he casts his vote at a polling station in Kabul, Afghanistan September 28, 2019 Reuters.The winner will play a crucial role in the country’s quest to end the war with the Taliban

Voting began on Saturday to elect a president for Afghanistan with more than 9 million Afghan registered voters potentially heading to the polls amid attacks in several cities.

Fourteen candidates are registered but the race will likely come down to incumbent President Ashraf Ghani and his former deputy Abdullah Abdullah. The winner will play a crucial role in the country’s quest to end the war with the Taliban and the resumption of talks between the insurgents and the United States that were called off earlier this month.

The hardline insurgent group, which controls more of the country than at anytime since its regime was toppled in 2001, has threatened voters to stay away from the election or face dire consequences.

To protect voters and polling stations from Taliban attacks tens of thousands of Afghan forces were deployed across 34 provinces.

About 9.6 million of Afghanistan’s 34 million people are registered to vote for one of the 14 candidates at around 5,000 polling centers that will be protected by some 100,000 Afghan forces with air support from US forces.