Afghanistan Will Get Election Aid

Three nations have agreed to pay more than $22 million to help organize elections in Afghanistan scheduled for June, a U.N. official said Saturday.

U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said the offer was made at a meeting of diplomats in Kabul last week to discuss preparations for the elections. He would not identify the countries.

With the polls just four months away, the United Nations faces the massive task of registering an estimated 10.5 million eligible voters, which will cost $98 million. Before last week’s offer, there was a funding shortfall of $50 million.

“Three countries indicated that they would come forward with additional funding of around $22 million to $23 million,” De Almeida e Silva said.

Funding difficulties are adding to the security woes that threaten to delay the elections, seen as a crucial step in Afghanistan’s recovery after a quarter-century of conflict.

Attacks by Taliban-led insurgents, bent on undermining the U.S.-backed government of President Hamid Karzai, have hampered voter registration, currently restricted to eight major cities but due to expand to less secure, rural regions in May.

On Friday, a Taliban leader threatened to stop people from participating in the elections, declaring that the vote would fail and that the militants’ jihad would continue.