INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightReutersImage caption
Final results from October's parliamentary elections have not yet been declared
Next year's presidential election in Afghanistan has been postponed by three months, election authority sources say.It was
A new date in mid-July or early August is to be announced on Thursday.Many potential candidates had been unable to meet registration
requirements and extreme weather meant their teams could not organise for a spring date, the sources told the TheIndianSubcontinent
It comes days after reports that the US was to withdraw thousands of troops.About 7,000 troops - roughly half the remaining US military
presence in the country - could go home within months, the US media reports said.On Monday 43 people died in a suicide and gun attack on the
Afghan ministry of public works in Kabul, officials said.Meanwhile Iran has held talks with the Afghan Taliban, a senior Iranian security
The decision to postpone the presidential vote also comes after a series of problems affected parliamentary elections in October, which was
disrupted by the Taliban and Islamic State group.Violence affected campaigning and the polls themselves, with 10 candidates killed and
deadly blasts at polling stations, nearly a third of which were closed because of security concerns.Image copyrightReutersImage caption
There were widespread problems with biometric identification devices used in October
The vote in Ghazni
province has not yet taken place because of insecurity and will now happen at the same time as the presidential election.Voting in Kandahar
province was delayed for a week after its police chief there was assassinated
There were also problems with a biometric verification system as well as delays at many polling stations because staff arrived late.Final
results from other major provinces such as Kabul, Herat and Mazar-e-Sharif have not yet been declared
The new parliament is due to begin sitting in March.Past elections in the country have also been marred by corruption, fraud, and voter
intimidation.The previous presidential election - which saw Ashraf Ghani take power - was only resolved after a power-sharing agreement was
negotiated by the US with Mr Ghani's main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who was given the position of chief executive.
