Friday, April 4, 2014

Taliban Pays Afghans $5 to Surrender Voter Cards; Brands Weekend Election a Western-Backed Sham

The Taliban have launched a violent campaign to disrupt this weekend's presidential election in Afghanistan, and in at least one eastern corner of the country they are paying villagers to surrender their voting cards, the Global Post website reports today (April 4, 2014).

Residents in Nangarhar province -- which lies on the border with Pakistan -- said local Taliban militants have been offering voters 500 Pakistani rupees (the equivalent of just over $5) to opt out of the election.

"At first we thought the Taliban were trying to trick us and wanted to find out who had voter cards, but later we found out that they were honest and paid money," said Ahmad Shah, a youth in a village just outside the city of Jalalabad.

Saturday's election will bring the first democratic transfer of power in war-torn Afghanistan and an end to the rule of President Hamid Karzai, who has led the country since the ouster of a Taliban regime in late 2001. The Taliban have branded the election a Western-backed sham.

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