Afghans living in Pakistani towns to return to cast votes in presidential election

Afghans living in bordering Pakistani are likely to return to their country to cast the votes in the coming presidential election, local people told Xinhua Tuesday.

Chaman is a city located in Pakistan's southwest Balouchistan province and borders Afghanistan's Kandahar province where large number of Afghan refugees have been living for a long time.

Presidential candidates are paying special attention to the Afghan refugees in Chaman. Days ago, a brother of President Karzai addressed a mass rally of about 8,000 Afghans in Chaman, urging them to come for polls and vote for Karzai.

Some supporters were holding portraits of Karzai, others were chanting slogan in his favor.

Though campaigners of other Afghan presidential candidates have not visited Chaman, there are many posters on the streets of the city.

The city is a 30-minute drive to the Afghan district of Spin Boldak next to Afghan-Pak Friendship Gate on the border. Kandahar, the second largest city of Afghanistan is about 70 miles to Chaman.

Abdul Basit, 28, said to Xinhua, "We can have the opportunity to cast our votes for the future of our country."

"Presidential candidates are promising their supporters that campaign vehicles will pick them from border and take to the polling station to the next town inside Afghanistan and be taken back after casting their votes," he said.

It is also possible that many Afghan refugees living in Pakistan's tribal areas close to their homeland would come to their country on the election day.

Unlike the previous Presidential election in 2004, Afghan refugees and expatriates living out of the country will not be facilitated to cast their votes for presidential race 2009 in the countries they live.

The prominent presidential candidates, in their TV ads and online messages, try to attract the expatriates and persuade them to return to their hometowns in the country to participate in the presidential and provincial council elections held on August 20.

It is very unlikely that even a small number of 2.5 million Afghan refugees living in Pakistan, or 2 million in Iran would return for vote.

There are about 800,000 well-off Afghans living in Europe and the US and some presidential candidates are particularly focusing on Afghan expatriates in West to return to Afghanistan for the polling day.

Some prominent candidates are even offering their relatives and supporters in West the return tickets and accommodation costs.

However, this time, according to Noor Mohammad Noor, the spokesman for Independent Election Commission (IEC), enabling Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran to cast their votes in host countries requires 50 million U.S. dollars and it is difficult to obtain such a budget.