The Taliban consider voting to be a sinful act. Law comes from Allah and is not subject to disagreement or consensus. Voting is a feature of societies built on mandmade law, which the Taliban don’t consider Sharia to be. Does the administration really think that they can conduct fruitful negotiations with people who believe these things?
“15 injured in bomb blast outside Afghan mosque being used as a polling station in presidential election amid fears of a surge in Taliban militant violence,” by Isabella Nikolic, Mailonline, September 28, 2019 (thanks to The Religion of Peace):
A bomb explosion outside a mosque being used as a polling station in Afghanistan has injured 15 people, according to a doctor who spoke on condition of his anonymity.
A police officer and several election officials were struck by the blast and three are in a critical condition at a hospital in Kandahar.
An upsurge in violence in the run-up to Afghanistan’s presidential elections has already rattled the country in past weeks following the collapse of US talks with the Taliban to end America’s longest war….
Today many voters expressed equal fear and frustration over relentless government corruption and the widespread chaos at polling stations.
Tens of thousands of police, intelligence officials and Afghan National Army personnel have been deployed throughout the country to protect the 4,942 election centres.
Authorities said 431 polling centres will stay closed because it was impossible to guarantee their security since they were either in areas under Taliban control or where insurgents could threaten nearby villages.
In northern Kunduz, where the Taliban have previously threatened the city – even briefly taking control of some areas – insurgents fired mortar rounds into the city and attacked Afghan security forces on its outskirts, said Ghulam Rabani, a council member for the province.
Rabani said the attacks are to ‘frighten people and force them to stay in their home and not participate in the election.’…