FINAL results of Afghanistan’s legislative elections show several former commanders of military factions, three old Taliban officials, women activists and several ex-communists won seats in the new parliament.

COUNTING is nearly complete in landmark Afghan legislative polls, with warlords and opponents of President Hamid Karzai faring relatively well, but women could hold the balance of power in the new national assembly.

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai hit the election trail yesterday for the first time since an assassination attempt last month, saying a vote in four days would be a turning point for the war-torn nation.

MORE than 20,000 Afghans gathered in Kabul yesterday to remember Northern Alliance military commander Ahmad Shah Masood, slain by al-Qaida operatives two days before the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.