Election security in Kunduz

By Gilles Dorronsoro, Afghanistan I was in Kunduz yesterday. The security there is extremely problematic — the road from Kabul to Kunduz is cut by the Taliban on a daily basis. The last attack in Dashti archi where the chief police was killed is a huge blow to the security forces. Groups of fifty Taliban ...

By Gilles Dorronsoro, Afghanistan

By Gilles Dorronsoro, Afghanistan

I was in Kunduz yesterday. The security there is extremely problematic — the road from Kabul to Kunduz is cut by the Taliban on a daily basis. The last attack in Dashti archi where the chief police was killed is a huge blow to the security forces. Groups of fifty Taliban are now operating on a regular basis, instead of ten a few months ago. The atmosphere is very different from my last trip in April. The Taliban are immediately near the city during the night and they are very confident and aggressive.

There is no way to stop the Taliban if they want to attack polling stations and block the road. There are over 200 polling stations in Kunduz. A low turnout is to be expected from the Pashtun at least. The security forces are not enough: there are only a thousand policemen and five hundred Afghan National Army infantry for one million people in the province. This election is also a moment of truth concerning the state’s ability to control and organize; so far not so good, even in the north.

Gilles Dorronsoro, currently in Afghanistan, is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment.

Gilles Dorronsoro is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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