Senior officials from the Defense and Interior ministries on Friday assured Afghans that a safe environment will be provided for the presidential election scheduled for September 28.

The remarks were made by Acting Interior Minister Massoud Andarabi and Deputy Defense Minister Yasin Zia in their trip to the northern province of Kunduz with the US and NATO forces commander, Gen. Scott Miller.

The Election Commission has evaluated 5,373 polling centers, with 431 of them to remain closed due to security threats. 

The city of Kunduz was attacked by the Taliban late August, which left the country’s main highway closed for almost two weeks and disturbed the transfer of election materials to northern and northeastern provinces. 

“We discussed with local officials the preparations of security forces to secure infrastructure projects and to retake areas [from the Taliban],” Andarabi said. 

“We had productive discussions with provincial leadership on security for the election. Activities are ongoing based on the Election Commission’s schedule,” Zia said. “The Taliban has failed in their attempts and pressure on them [by security forces] will continue.”  

Based on the Election Commission’s statistics, the polling centers that will remain closed are as follows:

31 centers in Badghis 

29 in Badakhshan 

89 in Balkh 

12 in Baghlan 

14 in Takhar 

7 in Jawzjan 

11 in Sar-e-Pul 

20 in Samangan 

66 in Ghor 

46 in Faryab 

11 in Farah 

3 in Kapisa 

7 in Kunduz 

5 in Kandahar 

20 in Nuristan

29 in Herat 

31 centers in Maidan Wardak 

Statistics by the Election Commission also show that almost 9.6 million people have registered to vote in the coming election.