Tensions high ahead of Afghan vote

ARMED police escorted trucks carrying ballots to polling stations yesterday in preparation for weekend legislative elections in Afghanistan, as militant attacks kept tension high and a purported Taliban spokesman urged people to boycott the landmark vote.

Campaigning was forbidden after 6am - 48 hours before polls open tomorrow - but some vehicles advertising candidates still drove through the streets of the capital, which were lined with election posters slapped on walls and trees.

The elections for a new parliament and 34 provincial councils are the last formal step for Afghanistan on the path to democracy laid out with international support after US-led forces ousted the Taliban from power four years' ago.