Terror before elections in Afghanistan

Running for office or even registering to vote can be deadly business in Afghanistan, where six candidates have died, three have sustained injuries, and two have been abducted—all in separate attacks leading up to the parliamentary vote scheduled this weekend, according to the country’s Independent Election Commission. About 100 others died and hundreds more were injured in the attacks, which the Taliban has vowed to continue until the elections.

Some 2,565 candidates will compete for seats in the nation’s 249-member National Assembly Saturday. The Afghan government has repeatedly postponed elections due to disagreements over voter registration and security.

In a statement released on Oct. 8, the Taliban called on its fighters to attack security forces organizing the elections. The extremist group urged voters to boycott the elections, saying they are taking place “for the sole purpose of legitimizing these stooges who are ultimately authorized by the occupying forces” in Afghanistan.

Government officials have promised to provide some 50,000 security guards at more than 5,000 polling stations on Election Day, but the violence is already widespread.

In the latest attack on Saturday, at least 22 people died when explosives placed on a motorcycle went off during a rally in northeastern Takhar province. Last Tuesday in Hemland province, a suicide bomber targeted the office of parliamentary candidate Saleh Mohammad Achakzai, killing him and seven other people. And on Oct. 1, a reported 13 people died when a suicide bomber triggered explosives during a rally for parliamentary candidate Abdul Naser Mohmand in Nangarhar province—Mohmand was unharmed. In one of the largest election-related attacks on April 22, at least 57 people died and 119 others sustained injuries when a suicide bomb went off at a voter registration center in Kabul, the nation’s capital. Islamic State(ISIS) claimed responsibility for the attack.

“I am outraged by attacks deliberately targeting civilians seeking to exercise their basic right to participate in elections,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN special representative for Afghanistan, said in a statement.

According to the U.S. military’s special inspector general for Afghanistan reconstruction, the Afghan government controls 56 percent of Afghan districts, the Taliban controls 14.5 percent, and the other 29.2 percent of districts remain contested.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the extremist group met with U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad in Qatar on Friday to discuss “finding a good way for the withdrawal of foreign forces from Afghanistan.”

The extremist groups are likely to stage more attacks as the elections draw closer, said Ebrahim Deen, an analyst with South Africa–based Afro Middle East Center. He predicted the heightened level of insecurity would also affect participation: “There’ll be low voter turnout.”

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill prays during a meeting of the Holy Synod in Minsk, Belarus, on Monday. Associated Press/Photo by Sergey Vlasov/Russian Orthodox Church Press Service

Russian church cuts ties with Orthodox leader

The Russian Orthodox Church on Monday said it will split from the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople after it granted independence to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

The Russian church’s Holy Synod reached the decision to sever ties with the patriarchate in Istanbul, considered the headquarters of worldwide Orthodox Christian churches. “We are hoping common sense will prevail and that the Constantinople Patriarchate will change its relations to existing church reality,” said Russian Orthodox spokesman Metropolitan Hilarion.

If Russia follows through, the split could become the largest since the 1054 Great Schism that divided the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Church. But the break is more about politics than religion. Russia controlled the Ukrainian church under a 1686 synodal letter. Relations between the two nations turned sour after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014. Ukraine accused the Russian Orthodox Church of working with the Kremlin and supporting rebels in the country’s east, but the church denied it posed any threat to Ukraine. —O.O.

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill prays during a meeting of the Holy Synod in Minsk, Belarus, on Monday. Associated Press/Photo by Sergey Vlasov/Russian Orthodox Church Press Service

Pakistani Islamists demand death sentence for Christian

Thousands of Pakistanis staged protests last week demanding the death penalty for Asia Bibi, a Christian woman accused of blasphemy. Bibi has remained on Pakistan’s death row since 2010 in a repeatedly prolonged case. The nation’s highest court on Oct. 8 heard an appeal in her case but has yet to announce its ruling.

The Tehreek-e-Labaik Pakistan party’s protests took place across the country, including in Lahore, Karachi, and Rawalpindi. Protesters held signs that read, “Hang Asia,” while others chanted, “Hang infidel Asia.” In a video statement released last Wednesday, the party threatened “terrible consequences against the government and the judiciary” if the court acquits Bibi.

Blasphemy laws remain legal in the country with a 97 percent Muslim population. Open Doors USA ranks Pakistan as fifth most difficult place to live as a Christian on its World Watch List. —O.O

Strong coffee, weak plan

The Egyptian government is trying to tackle radicalism in Cairo by sending moderate Muslim clerics to popular cafes.

The Religious Endowments Ministry is working with Egypt’s Al-Azhar University to send clerics to deliver moderate lectures to young people in the country’s most hip cafes, according to online magazine Ozy.

Egypt has faced increasing terror attacks, most targeting the minority Coptic Christian community in the majority Muslim nation. The government launched the program following the April 2017 attacks on two churches in Alexandria and Tanta that killed at least 44 Copts. The program is in its early phases in Cairo, the capital city, but the clerics have held more than 2,000 meetings throughout the country.

“The whole project was a big fiasco,” Islamic researcher Maher Farghali told Ozy. He said he sees the program as more of a show, noting the government has not introduced an overall policy or a long-term strategy to tackle radicalism. —O.O.

Deadly mudslides in Uganda

Heavy rainfall triggered mudslides that killed at least 40 people in eastern Uganda last week.

The torrential rains poured down on the mountainous Bududa district, resulting in a mudslide that sent big boulders rolling downhill. The disaster destroyed a bridge, swept away at least 100 homes, and left at least 400 people missing, according to local reports.

The mudslides affected more than 600 households, according to the Uganda Red Cross. The aid group said authorities continue to search for missing people, but some areas remain inaccessible due to impassable roads. During the rainy season in March 2010, at least 100 people died in similar mudslides in the same district. —O.O.

Serbia abolishes visa-free travel for Iranians

Serbia scrapped visa-free travel for Iranian citizens after the European Union complained that migrants misuse the provision to permanently remain in the bloc.

Serbia, currently a candidate for EU membership, borders EU-member nation Croatia. Serbian interior minister Nebojsa Stefanovic told Parliament members the government reintroduced visa entry because Iranian nationals increasingly used Serbia to illegally enter the EU. Since Serbia lifted visa provisions from Iran last August, more than 15,000 Iranians visited the country—many with no intention of returning home. Some 1,100 Iranians have applied for asylum this year in Serbia. —O.O.