Abdul Rasik Atschiksai had survived more than one stroke in the 39 years he was alive. On Thursday, however, the Afghan general was killed. The influential police chief of the troubled province of Kandahar was notorious for his brutality among the population and hated the Taliban for his cooperation with the NATO troops.

The radical Islamic troop reclaimed the attack for itself, which says a lot about the catastrophic security situation in the Hindu Kush. Because the assassin - a bodyguard of the Governor of Kandahar - opened the fire on the grounds of the Governor's Palace, where the police chief met with General Scott Miller, the commander in chief of the US and NATO troops in Afghanistan, according to media reports.

REUTERS

Abdul Rasik Atschiksai

Miller survived the assassination unhurt. But along with Atschiksai, Kandahar intelligence chief Abdul Momin was also killed and Kandahar governor Sulmai Wesa injured. Not only the allegedly well-secured place of the assassination is worrying, but also the time. At the weekend the Afghans are to vote for a new parliament.

68 women politicians in the next parliament

The election is overdue. Actually, more than three years ago, the Afghans should have given their vote on who the 250 politicians will be who they will represent in the future in the "House of the People" in the capital Kabul. But due to a complex electoral reform, the vote was postponed again and again.

No matter how the election ends, it is already clear that at least 68 women will be members of the next Afghan parliament. So many seats are reserved for female politicians. Altogether there are according to dpa data more than 2500 candidates.

REUTERS

election preparations

The Taliban have been announcing for weeks that they are attempting to perpetrate attacks during the election. They call the polls an "American conspiracy", calling for all Afghans to boycott and warn school directors not to use their educational institutions as election offices. With roadblocks across the country, they also want to stop the democratization process.

"Morally unable to choose"

The Taliban are already seeing their first success. In response to the momentous attack on Thursday in Kandahar, the ballot will be postponed there for a week. An Independent Electoral Commission spokesman told Reuters that people in Kandahar were "morally incapable of voting" after the attack.

REUTERS

Security forces of the Afghan government in Kabul

Also in the rest of the country, the Islamists are on the rise, 17 years after the international coalition led by the US intervened in Afghanistan:

  • Meanwhile, they control about 15 percent of the country, 30 percent are contested - even though the US and its international partners with 20,000 soldiers are active.
  • In August, thousands of Taliban people overran the city of Ghazni, which was only a hundred kilometers from Kabul, after they had taken control of large parts of the province in the previous weeks. Meanwhile, they are said to have been expelled from the city center, in the surrounding area but still active with strong forces.
  • This week, the Taliban in the southern Afghan city of Lashkar Gah with Abdul Jabar Kahraman also killed the tenth candidate for parliamentary elections. The politician was murdered by a bomb hidden in his couch.
  • According to UN figures, more than 126 civilians were killed in attacks on electoral registration offices, polling stations or election campaign events and 240 were injured by the end of September.

That the violence stops after the parliamentary elections is considered unlikely. Because not only the Taliban are militarily strengthened, also the terrorist militia "Islamic state" (IS) is active in Afghanistan. According to the United Nations, there are about 3000 IS fighters in the Hindu Kush.

Both groups should continue to try to destabilize the country. The next event is coming soon: In April 2019, a new Afghan president is to be elected.