NATO’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, at a press conference in Italy this week, spoke about Turkey’s ongoing military operations in northern Syria, affirming that Turkey is an “ally” that faces “legitimate security concerns” having “suffered horrendous terrorist attacks.”

Stoltenberg claimed that NATO has been informed by Turkey about the operations, and offered: “It’s important to avoid actions that may further destabilize the region, escalate tensions, and cause more human suffering.”

Some districts that were under threat of attack during the election received improbably high vote counts, while ballot boxes in secure districts received unlikely low counts.

Garmsir, a district in the southern province of Helmand, registered 8,000 votes, despite its fragile security situation, whereas another Helmand district, Nad-e-Ali--which is relatively calm compared to Garmsir--only received 6000 votes.