Retail politics, Afghanistan-style: how two front-runners woo voters --- Presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai energized thousands of their respective supporters at rallies in the Panjshir Valley and Kabul. -- If Afghanistan’s noisy election rallies are any indication, Afghans are set to elect a new president this week with a level of enthusiasm that is very likely to overcome Taliban efforts to disrupt the vote. -- From the steep stone mountain slopes that define the northern Panjshir Valley to Kabul's Ghazi stadium, where the Taliban once conducted public executions, candidates have strained their voices, glad-handed, and given out free lunches to screaming supporters in their bid to succeed President Hamid Karzai. On an often dangerous campaign trail, they are peddling peace and progress for Afghanistan, a nation that has not seen enough of either since US forces ousted the Taliban in 2001, despite tens of billions of dollars in Western assistance. -- A record 352,000 security personnel will be deployed during the election, scheduled for Saturday. But the risk of violence is still there: Afghan security forces today said they had seized more than 22 tons of explosives hidden in 450 bags in a northern province. The resurgent Taliban have mounted four high-profile attacks in Kabul in the past two weeks. --- “Their families sent a message," Abdullah says: " ‘Don’t cancel the rally, because our enemies will feel that they have succeeded.’ ” --- Many in attendance were impressed with Mr. Ghani’s academic credentials, some aware that he had been voted second place in a 2013 “world thinkers” poll by Prospect Magazine. -- “Ashraf Ghani is the second-most educated person in the world, he can do anything,” insists Haji Mirajam Suleimankhil, who traveled more than 100 miles from Paktika Province. Mohammad Naeim, a 17-year-old student who held an Afghan flag, echoed that sentiment: “We need an educated person, and he can bring brightness in the future.” -- Ghani said he would work for young people, and praised Afghan women as “heroes,” drawing cheers from one-quarter of the tiered stadium seats reserved for women, none of whom completely covered their faces with burqas. Ghani said educating women was important because “one educated woman in Afghan society educates a whole family.” -- Both Abdullah's and Ghani's rallies passed off without incident. - More, Scott Peterson, The Christian Science, at: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-South-Central/2014/0401/Retail-politics-Afghanistan-style-how-two-front-runners-woo-voters