NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen yesterday called on the Afghan government to ensure free and fair presidential elections next year after widespread allegations of fraud marred the 2009 poll.
The credibility of the vote is seen as crucial to avoiding an escalation of violence as NATO combat troops withdraw next year, leaving Afghan soldiers and police to tackle the Taliban insurgency.
“It will be vital that these elections are inclusive, and that the process and the outcome are acceptable to the Afghan people,” said NATO Secretary General Rasmussen during a previously unannounced visit to Kabul.
President Hamid Karzai, who has been the head of state since the 2001 United State-led invasion brought down the hardline Taliban regime, is constitutionally barred from running for a third term.
There are no clear front-runners in the election, which is due in April 2014, though reports have suggested that some of Karzai’s relatives could stand.
Karzai has repeatedly said he will not interfere in the polls and only wants a peaceful handover of power.
International concern about the election grew late last year when the government moved to scrap a UN-backed watchdog in favour of a tribunal that could give Karzai more control over polls.
The decision to scrap the Electoral Complaints Commission has yet to be approved by Parliament but was passed by the council of ministers.