Taliban Won’t Contest 2014 Afghan Election, Will Fight NATO Instead

Mullah Omar: Election a 'Waste of Time'

In a message released today by their leader Mullah Omar, the Taliban has announced that they don’t intend to field candidates or take part in the 2014 Afghan Presidential Election, saying it wasn’t worth the effort.

Calling it a “deceiving drama,” Mullah Omar insisted that the election was a “waste of time” and that instead the Taliban will focus on fighting foreign occupation forces until they leave the country.

This is in keeping with the Taliban’s position on previous elections since the US occupation began in 2001, as they have long insisted that the Afghan government holds no real power so long as it depends on foreign troops to stay in power.

With NATO hyping its post-2014 drawdown there was some hope the Taliban might enter a power-sharing agreement to end the ongoing war, but it seems that won’t come by way of the next election, and will still have to be negotiated at some future date.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.