(NSI News Source Info) KABUL - March 19, 2009: NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said on Wednesday in Kabul that the military alliance's forces in Afghanistan need to be beefed up ahead of presidential and provincial polls slated for August.
Scheffer said that an increase of four battalions in the NATO contingency would be necessary to ensure security before, during and after the elections, set for August 20. An International Security Assistance Force battalion comprises 1,000 men. 
U.S. soldiers stand guard near the site of an explosion in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March 15, 2009. In the capital Kabul, a suicide bomber on foot who was targeting a NATO patrol but instead killed two Afghan civilians Sunday, said Lt. Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahman, Kabul's police chief. The bomber also wounded 14 other civilians, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. No foreign troops were wounded or killed, the statement said.
Incumbent President Hamid Karzai's term of office ends on May 21. New elections must be held 30-60 days before his term expires.
Elected in 2004, Karzai's popularity has fallen over his failure to tackle violence and corruption. He has however expressed a desire to run for a second five-year term.
There is a real danger of Taliban attacks in Afghanistan's southern provinces during the elections, especially in the Helmand Province, where much of the fighting between NATO and Taliban forces has taken place.
Germany and Italy have already promised hundreds of additional troops to support some 70,000 foreign soldiers already in Afghanistan. Poland also said on Wednesday it may send an additional 400 troops.
According to the Afghan Constitution, elections were to be held in April of this year. However, polls were put off due to financial and technical complications.
Another problem is the lack of registered voters in the country, which according to various sources comprises 4.5- 9.5 million.
In addition, no one actually knows how many Afghans live in or outside the impoverished country. If less than 50% of those Afghans living there vote, then the polls could be declared invalid.
According to the United Nations, Afghanistan's population today comprises 25-27 million people. The last attempt to hold a census was in 1979. Another attempt at a census, sponsored by Japan, also ended in failure in the summer of 2008 because of instability in the country.
U.S. soldiers stand guard near the site of an explosion in the outskirts of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March 15, 2009. In the capital Kabul, a suicide bomber on foot who was targeting a NATO patrol but instead killed two Afghan civilians Sunday, said Lt. Gen. Abdul Rahman Rahman, Kabul's police chief. The bomber also wounded 14 other civilians, the Interior Ministry said in a statement. No foreign troops were wounded or killed, the statement said.
Incumbent President Hamid Karzai's term of office ends on May 21. New elections must be held 30-60 days before his term expires.
Elected in 2004, Karzai's popularity has fallen over his failure to tackle violence and corruption. He has however expressed a desire to run for a second five-year term.
There is a real danger of Taliban attacks in Afghanistan's southern provinces during the elections, especially in the Helmand Province, where much of the fighting between NATO and Taliban forces has taken place.
Germany and Italy have already promised hundreds of additional troops to support some 70,000 foreign soldiers already in Afghanistan. Poland also said on Wednesday it may send an additional 400 troops.
According to the Afghan Constitution, elections were to be held in April of this year. However, polls were put off due to financial and technical complications.
Another problem is the lack of registered voters in the country, which according to various sources comprises 4.5- 9.5 million.
In addition, no one actually knows how many Afghans live in or outside the impoverished country. If less than 50% of those Afghans living there vote, then the polls could be declared invalid.
According to the United Nations, Afghanistan's population today comprises 25-27 million people. The last attempt to hold a census was in 1979. Another attempt at a census, sponsored by Japan, also ended in failure in the summer of 2008 because of instability in the country. 
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