KABUL — The government is readying more than 3,000 donkeys to help deliver millions of ballot papers to remote regions of the country for the upcoming presidential vote.“I emphasize that these are the most complicated elections I have seen,” Kai Eide, the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), said on Tuesday, July 28.

Afghanistan’s 17 million-odd eligible voters will cast their ballots on August 20 in some 7,000 voting centers or 28,500 smaller voting stations in 34 provinces and 356 districts.

Many voting stations will be set up on mountainsides or by rivers in remote areas where trucks and even helicopters cannot reach and people can access only on the backs of donkeys.

During a visit to a massive warehouse in Kabul where the Independent Election Commission (IEC) is making final preparations for the poll, Eide said thousands of donkeys will help “get people to the most remote areas.”

The UN official noted that the use of donkeys highlights how the logistics in Afghanistan, a country of vast deserts, and high, craggy mountains and valleys were a challenge.

“I mentioned to you how inaccessible the country is, how challenging the whole logistical operation is, and also the fact that the country is a country in conflict.”

The presidential vote will be the second in Afghanistan since the 2001 US invasion of the country