Afghanistan rolls out security plan for presidential poll

A senior Afghan security official Monday said the country's security forces have rolled out a security plan for the upcoming presidential runoff polls.

"The Afghan army, police and National Directorate for Security (NDS) have started brewing a plan to ensure a safe and secure environment for the approaching presidential runoff election set June 14," Xinhua quoted Abdul Hasib Sediqi, spokesman of NDS, the country's intelligence agency, as saying.

He said the security forces had launched several special operations and detained 11 terrorists in national capital Kabul and eastern Paktiya province within the past weeks.

Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah escaped unhurt in twin-bomb blasts in Afghanistan's capital city Kabul last week.

However, the local analysts said that insecurity was the biggest challenge for the upcoming polls.

The Taliban insurgent group, which opposes the polls, has launched a rebel offensive in mid-May.

Nearly two dozens of civilians and security forces were killed and about 100 others wounded in Taliban-led attacks in first round of election held April 5.

The runoff will be held between Abdullah Abdullah and his rival Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.

According to the final results of the April 5 election, Abdullah secured 45 percent of some seven million votes, and Ahmadzai won 31.6 percent.

The two front-runners entered runoff after none of the eight candidates obtained an outright victory or more than half of the valid votes in the first round.

The election campaign started May 22 and will end June 11.

The runoff preliminary results will be clear July 2, while the final result of the will be announced July 22.

Nearly seven million Afghanistan citizens of some 12 million eligible voters cast their ballots amid Taliban threat of violence to elect a successor to the outgoing President Hamid Karzai, who has ruled the war-torn country since the Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001.