Sporadic attacks in Afghanistan did not prevent voters from casting ballots

Al-Shorfa and wire services
For Al-Shorfa.com
2009-08-20

An electoral worker assists an Afghan woman as she inks her finger prior to voting inside a polling centre in Kabul on Aug. 20. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images)

KABUL — Sporadic attacks on Afghan towns were reported as polls opened on Aug. 20 for an anxiously awaited presidential election that the Taliban vowed to disrupt, but the UN say the turnout is encouraging.

"The vast majority of polling stations have been able to open and have received voting materials," said Aleem Siddique, spokesman for the UN mission in Kabul.

"There have been a number of attacks, particularly in the south and east of the country. But we are seeing queues forming at polling stations in the north, also in the capital, as well as, encouragingly, in the east."

Shops and businesses were closed and 24 hour additional police checked the few cars on the streets in Kabul.

President Hamid Karzai was one of the first to vote in an election. He cast his ballot under tight security in a polling station at a high school near the presidential palace in Kabul, telling reporters he hoped for an outright majority in a single round. "One round will be in the interest of the nation," he said.

An Afghan policeman (L) searches voters before they enter a polling centre to cast their votes in Kandahar on Aug. 20. (Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images)

Karzai faces an unexpectedly strong challenge from his former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah. Polls show Karzai winning by a large margin, but possibly falling short of an outright majority, with a second round run-off election likely in October.

More than 30,000 U.S. troops arrived in Afghanistan this year, raising the number of International Security Force (ISAF) members above 100,000 for the first time.

The Afghan government has requested that international and domestic media not report violence during polling hours, a ban the UN asked authorities to lift.

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