(18 Aug 2005) SHOTLIST
1. Wide shot of news conference
2. Cameraman
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Ronald Neumann, US ambassador to Afghanistan:
"That struggle will probably go on for a while. I think this is a situation that is going to be difficult for some time but I would say that there is a strong international presence and there is a strong American presence and that strong presence is quite adequate to deal with the new violence."
4. Press
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ronald Neumann, US ambassador to Afghanistan:
"There is violence and there are people who will try to kill candidates and who will try to stop the election and they will fail. They have absolutely no chance of stopping this election. They may make some violence. I didn''t tell you that it''s going to be an all quiet day. But they will not stop the election. They will not even come close. When millions of people want to go vote, they will go vote."
6. Various of press
STORYLINE
The new US ambassador to Afghanistan on Thursday predicted that fighting across Afghanistan was likely to continue, but said there were enough local and international security forces in place to safeguard next month''s landmark legislative elections.
"They will not stop the election. They will not even come close. When millions of people want to go vote, they will go vote," Robert Neumann said in his first news conference since arriving in Kabul.
The ambassador said the violence in Afghanistan had worsened in recent months and acknowledged it was a threat to Afghanistan''s future.
"There is violence and there are people who will try to kill candidates and who will try to stop the election," he told reporters.
But Neumann went on to say: "There is a strong international presence and there is a strong American presence... (which) is quite adequate to deal with the new violence."
The diplomat, who previously worked in Baghdad, drew a comparison with the run-up to the polls in Iraq last January, saying the situation there was 10 times more violent, but still the elections went ahead.
About one thousand people have been killed in the past six months in Afghanistan after Taliban-led rebels stepped up attacks in an effort to subvert the polls and halt a US-backed nation-building process after two decades of war and civil strife.
Neumann''s comments came a day after the start of a one-month official campaigning period for the September 18 polls.
But the widespread violence and militant threats to kill candidates and voters prevented many hopeful politicians from campaigning.
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