The US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation Zalmay Khalilzad has stressed the need for timely and credible presidential elections in Afghanistan amid growing worries among many Afghans that the ongoing peace efforts could impact the historic poll set for September 28 this year. 

The US does not expect the elections to be delayed, said Khalilzad who has held peace talks with the Taliban five times since his appointment to the post on September 2018. 

Speaking to Radio Liberty, Khalilzad said the Taliban and the Afghan government may not reach peace accord before presidential elections, therefore, the presidential elections should be held on time. 

“There is a chance that the Afghans may not reach an agreement including the Taliban and the non-Taliban, then preparations are also needed for the elections, but it will be better if an agreement is sealed with the Taliban before the elections,” said Khalilzad. 

Meanwhile, officials from the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the election management body is undertaking necessary preparations for the elections to be held on time. 

“The MDR plan has been finalized and today it will be dispatched to the president and it is a big step,” said Musafir Qoqandi, IEC member. 

“Nothing has been done so far for the presidential elections by the election commissions. They are busy in figuring out the parliamentary elections and it will need two or three weeks to figure it out,” said Mohammad Naeem Ayubzada, CEO of Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA). 

This comes as President Ashraf Ghani said there is no reason to delay the elections. 

“There are some people who say that elections should be delayed, what are they feared from? They ask an incumbent president to come and hold elections, others have come and say either make an interim government…they don’t have trust in people,” Ghani said at a gathering last week.

IEC last month held a meeting with elections stakeholders and signed cooperation agreements with them on the upcoming presidential polls. 

The IEC has estimated that $192 million is needed for the presidential, provincial councils, district councils and Ghazni parliamentary elections which all will be held on the same day. 

The presidential elections were delayed two times.