Afghans turn out to vote despite Taliban threats

Afghanistan’s voters were confronted with Taliban threats and lethal attacks today as they turned out to select a president in an election that could decide the future of them and their Western allies.

Insurgents killed 26 Afghans in scattered attacks, but officials said they failed to disrupt the vote.

After 10 hours of voting, including a last-minute, one-hour extension, election workers began to count millions of ballots. Initial results were not expected until Saturday.

A top election official said around 40% to 50% of the country’s 15m registered voters cast ballots – a turnout that would be far lower than the 70% who voted for president in 2004.

Low turnout in the south would harm President Hamid Karzai’s re-election chances and boost the standing of his top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Turnout in the north appeared to be stronger, a good sign for Mr Abdullah.

International officials have predicted an imperfect election – Afghanistan’s second-ever direct presidential vote – but expressed hope that Afghans would accept it as legitimate, a key component of the West’s war strategy. The Taliban pledged to disrupt the vote and circulated threats that those who cast ballots would be punished.

A voting official in Kandahar, the south’s largest city and the Taliban’s spiritual birthplace, said voting appeared to be 40% lower than 2004.

There were reports of low turnouts in Kabul compared with longer queues seen in the 2004 vote.

“In the early morning, the turnout was slow, particularly in the south of the country, but in the middle of the day, it turned out to be very good,” said Zekria Barakzai, Afghanistan’s deputy chief electoral officer. “In central and some northern provinces, the turnout was huge.”

Security companies in the capital reported at least five bomb attacks, and Kabul police exchanged fire for more than an hour with a group of armed men; two suicide bombers died in the clash.

Mr Karzai, dressed in his traditional purple-and-green-striped robe, voted at a Kabul high school. He dipped his index finger in indelible ink – a fraud prevention measure – and held it up for the cameras. Presidential aides released a rare photo of his wife casting her vote.

After polls closed, Mr Karzai complimented Afghans for having the courage to vote and brushed aside questions about turnout.

The Afghan people braved “rockets, bombs and intimidation and came out to vote. We’ll see what the turnout was, but they came out to vote. That is great,” he said.

The president said militants carried out 73 attacks in 15 provinces – a 50% increase in attacks compared with recent days.

Defence and interior ministers said attacks killed eight Afghan soldiers, nine police and nine civilians. A US service member was killed in a mortar attack in the east.

Mr Karzai, who has held power since the Taliban was overthrown in late 2001, is favoured to finish first among 36 official candidates, although a late surge by Mr Abdullah could force a runoff if no one wins more than 50%.

The top UN official in the country, Kai Eide, acknowledged scattered attacks aimed at disrupting voting but said the election “seems to be working well.”

A UN spokesman said there were no early reports of widespread irregularities, though ahead of the vote the country had buzzed with rumours of ballot-stuffing, bogus registrations and dealing in voter cards on behalf of Mr Karzai - allegations his campaign has denied.

Militants carried out a string of assaults around the country. In northern Baghlan province, insurgent attacks closed 14 polling sites, and the police chief of Old Baghlan city and several police were killed. Five Afghan troops died in eastern Khost province.

More than 20 rockets had landed in the Helmand capital of Lashkar Gah, including one near a line of voters that killed a child.

A blast at a high school in Kabul serving as a polling centre wounded an election monitor and briefly shut down voting

Voter turnout in the insurgency-plagued Pashtun south is not only crucial to Mr Karzai’s chances but also to public acceptance of the results.

Mr Karzai is widely expected to be strong among his fellow Pashtuns, the country’s largest ethnic group that also forms the overwhelming majority of the Taliban.

He has tried to ensure his re-election by striking alliances with regional power brokers, naming as a running mate a Tajik strongman and welcoming home notorious Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum.

Mr Abdullah, who is part Tajik, is expected to win much of his votes in the Tajik north, where security is better.