• Afghanistan, attack on the president's election event: 24 dead
  • Afghanistan, Trump cancels the secret peace meeting with the Taliban
  • Afghanistan, bomb attack in Kabul: 16 dead and 120 wounded

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September 27, 2019Saturday, September 28, Afghanistan goes to the vote. President Ashraf Ghani is looking for his second term and will have to defeat his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, the current chief executive (the first in history) of the national unity government of the Islamic presidential republic established in 2014. To govern it takes 50% more 1 of the voters (9 million and 700,000 are registered).

The electoral campaign for the presidential elections closed on Wednesday from 7.00 am to 3.00 pm in the 34 Afghan provinces. It will be the third chance to vote, after two consecutive postponements.

On paper the candidates are 16 but many have withdrawn or supported some colleagues. Ghani and Abdullah are there to contend for the armchair of the Arg, the presidential palace of the capital Kabul, together since 2014 in the government of national unity imposed by the then US Secretary of State, John Kerry.

For 13 years, from 2001 to 2014, the president was Hamid Karzai, first ad interim for the three years following the attack on the Twin Towers on 11 September, and then, supported by the US invasion and the United Islamic Front to defeat the Taliban - Islamic fundamentalists still present on half the territory -, voted in 2004.

Country situation
The United States, as well as NATO, continue to be present on Afghan territory, to face the Taliban offensives and negotiate agreements (from 1996 to 2001 the fundamentalists ruled the country under the leadership of Mullah marOmar).

On 7 September, US President Donald Trump decided to stop the negotiation of US representative Zalmay Khalilzad. Ashraf Ghani, after this American turnaround in his favor, says he is sure to have the victory in his pocket and is confident that in his second term he will get peace and security.

In fact, in recent weeks there have been many attacks throughout the country with hundreds of victims, with about 80 deaths a day. And the elections have already been postponed twice. In an interview with Corriere della Sera, Ghani explains: "Everything will go as planned, despite criticism and challenges. There is no doubt that the electoral machine will be set in motion, ready. We will make it work, for democracy, for our future ".

The capital Kabul is armored after having suffered continuous attacks, even on hospitals, schools and near the American embassy. Former President Hamid Karzai said it would be better to sign a peace agreement with the Taliban before going to the polls. President Ghani last week risked being hit during an election rally in the north of the country.