Afghans cast ballots amid bombings, rockets (News Feature)

By Farhad Peikar Sep 18, 2010, 11:15 GMT

Kabul - Voters queued outside thousands of polling stations to cast ballots in Afghanistan's parliamentary elections on Saturday as Taliban attempted to derail the vote with rockets and bombings.

Dozens of people were killed and injured in scattered attacks, mainly in northern and eastern Afghanistan, while Taliban claimed that their fighters managed to block scores of stations from opening.

'This morning when I came out of my home, I knew that the Taliban would try to attack the voters, but this country has the right to take part in its stabilization process,' Mohammad Haroon, 28, said.

Haroon, standing in a long queue outside a school in the centre of Kabul, said Afghans need to take part in a national process if they wanted peace. 'If we don't come out and vote today out of fear of Taliban attacks, tomorrow they will come and attack us in our homes.'

Initial reports said voting was slow and turnout light throughout the country, but officials said it picked up later in the day.

'I asked my sons to stay at home this morning and I came out myself to see if the security was fine and we could vote,' said Mohammad Anwar, 52, a voter in southern city of Kandahar. 'I think if the security for the day remains like this, a lot of people will show up.'

President Hamid Karzai, who opened the Amani High School voting station in Kabul by casting his ballot, urged Afghans to brave the attacks and come out and vote.

'As in every election we do hope that there will be high voter turnout and nobody is deterred by security incidents which I am sure there will be some,' he said.

Security forces were on high alert as around 63,000 soldiers and 52,000 police have been deployed to country's 34 provinces to provide security for nearly 6,000 polling sites.

At least 1,000 voting stations remained shut and officials said that it was too dangerous to hold elections in nine districts.

Security officials assured people that it was safe to come out and vote.

'Saying security is guaranteed is a big word,' Staffan de Mistura, the top United Nations envoy to the country said Saturday. 'Many precautions have been taken place, never there have been so many precautions as today, but security remains a major concern.'

Saturday's vote is seen as the latest effort in a US-led process to bring democracy to the country following last year's presidential election, which was marred by violence and massive fraud.

About 150,000 US and NATO troops are trying to implement a counterinsurgency strategy aimed at turning the tide of nearly nine years of war against the insurgents.

The vote is also a big test of credibility for Karzai, who was re-elected in last year's fraud-scarred elections.

Candidates and independent observers warned that a repeat of fraud was possible as fake voting cards were sold across the country prior the elections. Millions of phony cards were said to have been printed in Pakistan.

Police seized dozens of fake voter registration cards and allegations of fraud, including ballot-stuffing by electoral workers in favors of certain candidates, and underage voting reported across Afghanistan Saturday.

More than 2,500 candidates are vying for 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga. Among them are a total of 406 women contesting for 68 seats allocated for them by the country's post-Taliban constitution.

The initial results of the vote were expected by early next month, while the final verified results were due to be announced around the end of October.

Election officials said final results could be delayed because a UN-backed complaint commission is expected to look into thousands of allegations of fraud and complaints, mainly from losing candidates.