BEIJING, Juen 30 -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday called on Taliban and other opposition parties to take part in the presidential and provincial council election set on Aug. 20.

    "Once again, I call on Taliban, our brothers and other opposition who are in Afghanistan or outside of the country, I request them to register their names and vote for president or member of provincial council they want," Karzai told reporters in a press conference here.

    "Not only supporting election but I want them stop war forever," Karzai added.

    The incumbent President said, "I request them to give hands to their people to bring secure and peaceful environment for electio."

    Moreover, Karzai asked international community to be neutral during the election.

    Afghanistan’s second presidential and provincial council’s election is set for Aug. 20 and the prominent candidates among 41 are incumbent president Hamid Karzai and his former ministers Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.

    With a Taliban-led insurgency peaking this year, there are concerns that the militants will attack the polls or intimidate Afghans into not voting especially in the most intense battlefields in the south.The insurgents have not explicitly announced they would target the polls but have called on Afghans to boycott the elections.

    However two of the more than 3,000 candidates for the provincial councils have been murdered in recent weeks, with one attack blamed on the Taliban.

    The United States and Afghanistan's other international allies have pledged thousands of extra soldiers to protect polling and are also bankrolling the vote to the tune of around 220 million U.S. dollars.

    NATO's top military commander warned last week that insurgents could block transport routes and use intimidation rather than suicide attacks to disrupt the elections.

    Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Kabul.

    (Source: XHTV)