Campaign

MAIMANA (Pajhwok): Presidential runner Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai on Monday promised to convert the poor northwestern Faryab province to a hub of agricultural and economic land and implement projects if he won the April 5 vote.
Speaking to thousands of his supporters in Maimana, the provincial capital, Ahmadzai said Faryab was a rich province in natural resources and he would take measures to extract the underground precious if he won the elections.

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): Presidential runner Mohammad Shafiq Gul Agha Sherzai on Sunday urged residents of northern Balkh province to vote for him if they wanted fast-paced progress and development of the country.
Thousands of people attended the public meeting at the Sina Ground in Mazar-i-Sharif and pledged support to Sherzai in the presidential elections, scheduled for April 5.
He questioned how some of his rival contenders would serve the masses if they were elected because they did not perform well when they were previously serving as ministers.

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Presidential candidate Dr. Zalmai Rassoul on Sunday visited western Herat province, promising to banish violence against women, corruption and kidnappings.
Rassoul said he would intensify efforts to stop violence against women, graft and kidnapping cases in the province after he won the next week’s presidential polls.
Addressing tens of thousands of his supporters in Herat city, he said insecurity and kidnappings were major problems and he would address the issues once he won as president of the country.

ASADABAD (Pajhwok): Two separate gatherings were held in eastern Kunar province in support of presidential contenders Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf on Saturday.
Hundreds of people in Khas Kunar district pledged support to Abdullah in the elections. Maulvi Shahzada Shahid, Abdullah’s campaign manager, told the participants to cast their votes for Abdullah for the sake of a prosperous Afghanistan.
Abdullah had comprehensive programmes for the development and prosperity of the country, specifically the Kunar province, he added.

BAMYAN CITY (Pajhwok): Presidential candidate Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai on Saturday promised to promote the tourism industry in central Bamyan province and improve highway security if he won next week’s vote.
Addressing thousands of supporters in Bamyan City, Ghani called the killing of Afghans intolerable and promised an end to the current wave of violence after he came to power.

KANDAHAR CITY (Pajhwok): Presidential runner Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai on Friday vowed to transform southern Kandahar province into a transit trade centre.
Addressing an election rally here, Ahmadzai promised to construct water dams to promote agriculture in the province if he won the April 5 vote. He would also build a railroad in Spin Boldak road.
After coming into power, the ex-finance minister said he would implement the multi-billion dollars Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India gas pipeline project, known as TAPI.

KABUL/MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): Thousands of people on Friday pledged support to presidential runners Dr. Abdullah Abdullah and Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf in Balkh and Kabul provinces.

MAZAR-I-SHARIF (Pajhwok): With the presidential election scheduled for next week, leading candidate Dr. Zalmai Rassoul on Thursday pledged to fight administrative corruption and crackdown on land-grabbers if won the April 5 vote.
His government will seriously work to overcome the challenges of administrative graft and land-grab incidents, Rassoul told thousands of people attending his campaign rally at a stadium in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province.

KABUL (Pajhwok): Leading presidential candidate Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai on Thursday said he would turn eastern provinces into a huge economic, transit trade hub and a defensive gate to the central capital Kabul.
He was addressing a campaign rally in Jalalabad, the capital of eastern Nangarhar province, where tens of thousands of people from neighbouring Kunar, Nuristan and Laghman provinces had arrived.
Religious scholars and tribal elders from the eastern provinces also took part in the rally.