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The deadlock in the presidential election in Afghanistan has emboldened the Taliban and other militant groups to wage armed attacks in several parts of the country, according to local analysts here.
Afghanistan's presidential elections was held on April 5 with the objective to have new president and stabilize the country, but since no candidates garnered more than 50 percent of the votes, the race went for the runoff between two leading candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
However, the presidential runoff, which was held on June 14, has resulted in a deadlock as Abdullah, who secured 45 percent of some 7 million votes in the first round of balloting against his rival Ghani Ahmadzai who bagged 31.6 percent, accused the election commission of committing fraud in Ahmadzai's favor. He said none of election commission's decision is acceptable unless the clean votes are filtered from the faked ones.
The election commission has yet to announce even the preliminary results of the runoff as Abdullah's team warned not to accept the outcome unless its demands are met. Ghani Ahmadzai' s supporters, on the other hand, have called on the election body to declare the preliminary result as per schedule on July 7.
Local observers believe that the election deadlock has encouraged the Taliban to further consolidate their forces and intensify their attacks against government security forces.
Taliban militants have been fighting mostly through suicide and roadside bombings to regain power in the country. But it adopted a change in tactics and launched a coordinated frontal war in their former stronghold in the southern Helmand province on June 21.
Although security officials have claimed that they have repulsed the Taliban, reports said that there are still areas in the province under the control of the Taliban.
"Since the security forces, including the police, have diverted their attention to the presidential polls, the Taliban took advantage of the situation and launched massive offensive in several districts of Helmand province," political analyst Atiqullah Omarkhil has said.
According to security officials, thousands of Taliban militants, including foreign fighters, were involved in the Helmand war that has left hundreds of people dead, including 230 civilians.
Observers said that if Helmand will fall into the hands of the Taliban, the stability of the provinces of Kandahar, Farah, Uruzgan and Zabul would be threatened.
In its website, the Taliban termed the election deadlock as " ridiculous drama" which can take the country towards ethnic division and chaotic situation. It has also claimed that the election was a ploy by the U.S. to continue its occupation of Afghanistan.
The Taliban fighters have targeted military section of the Kabul airport with two rockets and conducted a suicide attack against the bus of air force personnel in Kabul City over the past week killing and injuring over two dozen people.
In the latest wave of rocket attacks, the militants targeted a parking lot in Arghandi area, a suburban of Kabul, on Friday night burning hundreds of oil tankers used to supply fuel to the NATO- led forces stationed in southern region of Afghanistan.
