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Minister of Interior Mohammad Omar Dawoudzai on Wednesday met with police chiefs from around the country for the last day of a three-day gathering to review security preparations for the upcoming elections.
Dawoudzai took the opportunity to issue a stern warning against interference in the elections, emphasizing the importance of neutrality on the part of the security forces.
The Minister told the police chiefs gathered that any and all officers found to be interefering in the electoral process, a problem that was well-documented during the 2009 Presidential elections, would face harsh legal repurcussions.
"We are committed not to interfere in the elections and won't work against any candidate and will not allow any one to meddle in the process," Dawoudzai said.
Oversight of polling centers around the country, at its best, is expected to be two-fold: security personnel preventing attacks and electoral monitors preventing improprieties.
Minister Dawoudzai reaffirmed to all those gathered at the meeting what the Ministry of Interior (MoI) had reported to the Independent Election Commission (IEC) in its security report last week. Ninety-four percent of the polling centers around the country are expected to be secured.
Dawoudzai is one of a ten-member commission established to oversee security strategies and operations related to the spring elections.
The Minister warned that the challenge ahead for security forces would be trying. He said there was reason to believe that insurgent and terrorist leaders living abroad had instructed militants in Afghanistan to remain on the battlefield through the winter this year rather than return to headouts as the harsh weather of the region set in.
The steady flow of attacks around the country since the new year began, including in the heart of the capital, would suggest the usual spring-to-fall "fighting season" paradigm normally operated under by coalition and Afghan forces would not be in play this year.