Kabul: With two days to go for Afghanistan's second presidential election since the Taliban's ouster in 2001, the old enemy is back with a vengeance, determined to scare voters away and disrupt the polls.
Taliban militants are striking fear in the hearts of the Afghan electorate. Hasibullah, a Kabul local, said: "There is no security. People are very scared because the election is about to happen."
"Everyone is waiting to go to the capital for voting to select their choice for president and are concerned about security," said another local resident, Noor Agha.
On Tuesday morning, there were two rocket attacks in Kabul. One hit the presidential palace, the other struck nearby. No one was injured, but the sound of the impact reverberated through the city.
On the city's outskirts, a car bomb killed three civilians and wounded three UN officials. And only three days ago, on Saturday, seven people were killed when the Taliban attacked the NATO headquarters.
The government says it is not sure how much violence to expect on Election Day. Both the Afghan forces and NATO are on high alert, but will suspend offensive operations on Thursday. Election officials say around 10 per cent of the 7,000 polling centres may remain closed due to security issues.
And it's not just the Taliban that wants to keep the voters indoors. One of Afghanistan's most powerful warlords has warned that there will be no end to the war as long as foreign forces remain in the country.
The warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, said: "We will never take part in a puppet government which is controlled by foreign forces." He accused the Kabul government of being made up of "thieves, corrupt people and criminals".
Meanwhile, as the campaign ended today, the top contenders - Ramazan Bashardost and President Hamid Karzai -- made their final pitch to the voters. Voting will be held on Thursday, August 20. Election results are expected around September 10.
However, there may be a run-off between the top two contenders if the winner does not get more than 50 per cent of the votes cast. In that scenario, voting will again be held in the first week of October and counting may take a few weeks thereafter.