In Afghanistan, the upcoming elections have been a source of extreme violence and controversy. Suicide attacks and explosions have killed many civilians at election rallies leading up to the October 20th election. On October 2nd, explosives were placed inside a motorcycle at a rally for a female candidate. The explosion was meant to hurt the candidate, Nazifa Yousufi Bek, who was not present at the when the attack occurred. More women have been running for office positions than ever before in Afghanistan, but there is a lot of opposition to the election of any candidate. Five male candidates have been killed so far, all in separate attacks. Two were abducted and four have been wounded by militants. The goal of these attacks is to force citizens to boycott the election. Although no militant group has taken responsibility for this attack, the Taliban is known for their violent attempts to discourage civilians from voting in the upcoming election. 12 civilians were killed in the October 2nd blast, and 32 were injured. To help resolve the growing conflict, Taliban leaders met with the U.S. special envoy for peace, Zalmay Khalizad, in Qatar to peacefully end the war in Afghanistan. More meetings will be held in the future.
I was shocked by the number of attacks and casualties there have been as a result of the election. I couldn’t believe that candidates have been abducted and killed, or that civilians are threatened so that they don’t vote in the election. I also think it’s important to note that the Afghan citizens continue to go to election rallies and defend their right to vote, even though they’re risking their lives just going to hear a candidate speak. I was also surprised by the number of women running for political positions (417). I hope that the meeting in Qatar is the beginning of the end of the war in Afghanistan, although I was slightly skeptical to see that the U.S. is negotiating with the Taliban to bring peace. The outcome of the election will be incredibly important to Afghanistan and hopefully the violence will quickly be resolved through more meetings.