Afghan Election Staff Abducted as Taliban Claims Attack in Kandahar

Gunmen attack a voter registration station in Ghor, Afghanistan. (AFP)
Gunmen attack a voter registration station in Ghor, Afghanistan. (AFP)
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Afghan Election Staff Abducted as Taliban Claims Attack in Kandahar

Gunmen attack a voter registration station in Ghor, Afghanistan. (AFP)
Gunmen attack a voter registration station in Ghor, Afghanistan. (AFP)

Gunmen attacked on Tuesday a voter registration center in Afghanistan where they kidnapped five people.

Three of the captives are employees. They also destroyed documents, official said of the incident that took place in the central province of Ghor.

It sparked concerns about security in the lead-up to the war-torn country's long-delayed legislative elections scheduled for October 20.

Armed men stormed the center in Aliyar district as Independent Election Commission staff were registering voters, provincial police spokesman Mohammad Iqbal Nizami told AFP, blaming the Taliban.

The group was not immediately available for comment.

Nizami said the militants abducted three IEC staff and two policemen charged with protecting the registration center.

"They also set all the voter registration materials on fire," Nizami said. "We are investigating and have launched a search operation."

Ghor governor spokesman Abdul Hai Khatibi confirmed the incident and said tribal leaders and elders were in talks with the local Taliban to free the IEC staff and police.

On Wednesday, the Taliban claimed responsibility for a bombing in the southern Kandahar province.

The attack left five people dead, including a police commander, an Afghan official said.

A Kandahar police spokesman said Colonel Janan Mama, commander of the border rapid reaction force, three of his police bodyguards and a civilian were killed in the blast.

The spokesman, Zia Durrani, said the sticky bomb was placed on the commander's vehicle in Kandahar city, the provincial capital.

The Taliban claimed responsibility in a statement sent to media. The insurgent group routinely targets Afghan officials and security forces.

Afghanistan last weekend began registering voters as it seeks to ensure that the parliamentary and district council elections -- which are a test-run for the presidential poll next year -- are seen as credible and fraud-free.

In an operation that will last for two months, authorities hope to register up to 14 million adults at more than 7,000 polling centers -- an ambitious goal in a country where militants control or contest much of the territory.

IEC officials have acknowledged that ensuring security at voter registration centers, particularly in rural areas, will be a major challenge.

Afghanistan's beleaguered security forces, already struggling to get the upper hand on the battlefield, have been tasked with protecting voter registration centers, which will be used as polling stations on election day.

More than 50,000 people in major cities have so far registered to vote, an IEC official told AFP on Wednesday.

He acknowledged it had "started slowly" but the process was gaining momentum.

The polls were originally set to be held in 2015 following presidential elections the previous year, but were repeatedly pushed back due to security fears and logistical issues within the fragile unity government.

If held, candidates will contest the 249 seats in the National Assembly for five-year terms. The country will also hold regional elections in tandem in hundreds of districts across Afghanistan -- some of which are outside Kabul's control.



Russia’s Top Diplomat Praises Trump’s Views on Ukraine Conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
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Russia’s Top Diplomat Praises Trump’s Views on Ukraine Conflict

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov smiles during his annual news conference in Moscow, Russia, Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025. (AP)

Russia’s top diplomat said Tuesday that Moscow is open for talks with President-elect Donald Trump and praised him for pointing to NATO's plan to embrace Ukraine as a root cause of the nearly 3-year-old conflict.

Any prospective peace talks should involve broader arrangements for security in Europe, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said at his annual news conference, while adding that Moscow is open to discussing security guarantees for Kyiv.

Lavrov specifically praised Trump's comments earlier this month in which he said that NATO’s plans to open its doors to Ukraine had led to the hostilities.

Trump said Russia had it "written in stone" that Ukraine's membership in NATO should never be allowed, but the Biden administration had sought to expand the military alliance to Russia's doorstep. Trump added that, "I could understand their feelings about that."

Trump's comments echoed Moscow’s rhetoric which has described its "special military operation" in Ukraine launched in February 2022 as a response to planned NATO membership for Kyiv and an effort to protect Russian speakers. Ukraine and its allies have denounced Russia's action as an unprovoked act of aggression.

"NATO did exactly what it had promised not to do, and Trump said that," Lavrov said. "It marked the first such candid acknowledgement not only from a US but any Western leader that NATO had lied when they signed numerous documents. They were used as a cover while NATO has expanded to our borders in violation of the agreements."

The West has dismissed that assessment. Before the conflict, Russia had demanded a legal guarantee that Ukraine be denied NATO entry, knowing the alliance has never excluded potential membership for any European country but had no immediate plan to start Ukraine down that road. Russia said NATO expansion would undermine its security, but Washington and its allies argued the alliance didn’t threaten Moscow

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged his Western allies to invite Kyiv to join NATO, or, at the very least, offer comprehensive security guarantees that would prevent any future Russian attacks. The alliance’s 32 member countries say Ukraine will join one day, but not until the fighting ends.

Trump has reaffirmed his intention to broker peace in Ukraine, declaring earlier this month that "Putin wants to meet" and that such a meeting is being set up. In the past, he has criticized US military aid for Ukraine and even vowed to end the conflict in a single day if elected.

Lavrov emphasized that Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly declared his openness for talks with Trump, adding that Moscow looks forward to hearing Trump’s view on Ukraine after he takes office.

Lavrov also praised comments by Trump's pick for national security adviser, Mike Waltz, who said Sunday it's unrealistic to expect that Ukraine could drive Russian forces "from every inch of Ukrainian soil."

"The very fact that people have increasingly started to mention the realities on the ground deserves welcome," Lavrov said during his annual news conference un Moscow.

In its final days, the Biden administration is providing Kyiv with as much military support as it can, aiming to put Ukraine in the strongest position possible for any future negotiations. The US also introduced new sanctions on Russia's oil industry.

Lavrov described those efforts as an attempt by the Biden administration to "slam the door" and leave a difficult legacy for Trump. "The Democrats have a way of screwing things up for the incoming administration," he said.

He emphasized that any prospective peace talks must address Russia's security concerns and reflect a broad European security environment.

"Threats on the western flank, on our western borders, must be eliminated as one of the main reasons (of the conflict)," he said. "They can probably be eliminated only in the context of some broader agreements."

He added that Moscow is also open to discuss security guarantees for Kyiv, "for the country, which is now called Ukraine."

Lavrov was asked about Trump's comments in which he wouldn't rule out using force or economic pressure to make Greenland — a semiautonomous territory of Denmark — a part of the United States.

Lavrov emphasized that the people of Greenland must be asked what they want.

"For a start, it's necessary to listen to the Greenlanders," Lavrov said, noting that they have the right for self-determination if they believe that their interests aren't duly represented by Denmark.