The Taliban on Tuesday denounced as a sham a presidential election due next month, saying their fighters would do everything they could to block it while urging people to stay away from rallies that could be attacked.

Axar.az reports citing Reuters that president Ashraf Ghani is widely expected to win a second term and has insisted the vote must go ahead as scheduled.

Instead of the September 28 election, the Taliban said, the focus should be efforts to negotiate a deal with the United States that is expected to see a U.S. commitment on the withdrawal of its troops in exchange for a Taliban promise the country will not be used to plot terrorist attacks.

“This election process is nothing more than a ploy to deceive the common people ... for satisfying the ego of a limited number of sham politicians,” the Taliban said in a statement.

“Agreement on these details is essential,” the envoy, Zalmay Khalilzad, said on Twitter. He did not elaborate.

The Taliban said they were expecting a positive outcome.

Four people were killed and 25 wounded in a bomb blast in the western city of Herat on Monday, provincial authorities said.