President Hamid Karzai was back in his hometown this weekend for the first time since he narrowly escaped assassination by a Taliban sympathizer here 18 months ago. In a direct challenge to the Taliban in its former spiritual capital, he urged people to take part in the country’s elections in September. His two-day visit to Kandahar was the first of a series of planned trips to the regions of Afghanistan in the coming months, and it clearly opened the election season, the next big task for Mr. Karzai’s government and for him as a presidential candidate. Accompanied by five cabinet ministers, he said he was here to see how reconstruction was going and what more the government could do, but he also urged people to take part in the elections even if those trying to undermine the process used violence to deter participation. Full Story
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