...mindless ferocity in a turban...on Tuesday denounced as a sham a presidential election due next month, saying their fighters would do everything they could to block it, while urging people to stay away from rallies that could be attacked.
The warning came as both the United States and the Taliban reported progress in talks on a deal that is expected to bring a US commitment to withdraw its troops in exchange for a Taliban promise the country will not be used to plot terrorist attacks.
The Taliban called for a boycott of the election scheduled for Sept 28, and said foreign powers should instead focus on the effort to negotiate the deal with the US on "ending the occupation of Afghanistan".
"This election process is nothing more than a ploy to deceive the common people ... for satisfying the ego of a limited number of sham politicians," the Taliban said in a statement.
President Ashraf Ghani
...former chancellor of Kabul University, now president of Afghanistan. Before returning to Afghanistan in 2002 he was a scholar of political science and anthropology. He worked at the World Bank working on international development assistance. As Finance Minister of Afghanistan between July 2002 and December 2004, he led Afghanistan's attempted economic recovery until the Karzais stole all the money...
is widely expected to win a second term and has insisted the vote must go ahead as scheduled.
The US-trained former World Bank official came to power in 2014 after winning a bitterly disputed election marred by accusations of cheating.
The Taliban said their fighters would block the vote and warned of attacks. "To prevent losses ... from being incurred by our fellow compatriots, they must stay away from gatherings and rallies that could become potential targets," the murderous Moslems said.