Iran Press/ Asia: Afghan officials said on Wednesday that due to the lack of technical preparations, the country's presidential election has been delayed.
According to the Afghan officials, a delay of at least three months has been proposed to avoid repeating the furious disputes and accusations of industrial-scale fraud that followed the previous presidential election, in 2014.
The move comes as Donald Trump administration is losing patience with the long war in Afghanistan, where about 14,000 American troops remain, New York Times reported.
Last week, Pentagon officials said President Trump had ordered preparations to withdraw 7000 soldiers from Afghanistan in coming months — a decision that surprised Afghan officials.
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Although Afghan election officials, speaking to local media, suggested a delay was likely, they would not confirm it publicly. A senior official said the decision was made to delay the presidential vote by three months.
The decision to postpone the presidential vote also comes after a series of problems affected parliamentary elections in October, which was disrupted by the Taliban and ISIS.
In October, violence affected campaigning and the polls themselves, with 10 candidates killed and deadly blasts at polling stations, nearly a third of which were closed because of security concerns.105/207
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