Afghan election

A massive Afghan and multinational force of 300,000 was put on full alert Thursday to safeguard voting and prevent the Taliban from unleashing a threatened onslaught. Two Taliban insurgents were killed in a gun battle in Kabul as sporadic violence across the country threatened to unsettle voters.

The attack, coming after the Taliban said 20 of their fighters had infiltrated the capital, was the worst of several on polling stations and voters.

The Taliban have struck repeatedly inside the capital in a bloody countdown to elections that are aimed at putting the country more firmly on the path to democracy eight years after the US-led invasion ousted the militia's regime.

However, despite the violence in places like Kandahar in the south and in the northern provinces of Baghlan and Takhar, the United Nations said there were encouraging signs of high turnout.

"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. "We are seeing queues forming at polling stations in the north, also in the capital, as well as, encouragingly, in the east."

Scores of people queued up at polling stations in the capital and major cities under government control, and some 95 percent of 6,500 polling stations opened on schedule, the Independent Election Commission said.

"The turnout is very good, but we don't have exact figures," said deputy chief electoral officer Zekria Barakzai, predicting that it could reach around 50 percent overall.

Seventeen million Afghans have registered to elect a president and 420 councilors in 34 provinces across the largely rural, impoverished country. It is a difficult process in a nation where more than 70 percent of people are illiterate and bound by fierce tribal and religious allegiances.

Karzai bullish despite energetic Abdullah

Western-backed President Hamid Karzai hopes to win an outright majority to avoid a run-off, but his nervous government ordered a blackout on reporting on violence during polling day, threatening journalists with heavy penalties.

"I request my dear countrymen to come out and cast their vote to decide their future," Karzai said as he voted in a Kabul boys' school near his heavily fortified palace, dismissing fears of unrest.

However, one opinion poll carried out by a US organization predicted Karzai would be forced into a run-off, winning 44 percent of the vote, and his rival Abdullah Abdullah, who has a northern powerbase and draws on ethnic Tajik support, would take 26 percent. There are around 30 other candidates.

Abdullah hailed "a day of change" as he voted alongside his wife and young son amid a throng of journalists and phalanx of security men. An energetic campaign by the ex-foreign minister has boosted the chance of a run-off, which would take place in around six weeks' time.

The election is also a test for US President Barack Obama, who has ordered a massive troop build-up this year as part of a strategy to reverse Taliban gains.

Obama's envoy for the region, Richard Holbrooke, toured polling stations in Kabul and said what he'd seen was "open and honest," adding: "So far every prediction of disaster turned out to be wrong."

NATO troops on alert and ready to quell violence

Troops from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and Afghan forces were still on high alert despite the level of violence being far below that predicted.

"We have been doing an immense amount of work to try and ensure the best possible security for the elections," Lieutenant General Jim Dutton, the deputy commander of the NATO-led force drawn from about 40 nations, told reporters. "Of course the real test is election day," the British general added.

The biggest threats facing troops were suicide bombers, rockets and maybe ambushes, he said.

"The mission, as for all coalition forces, is to be the least visible to show that this is an election organized by the Afghans themselves," said Lieutenant Colonel Stephane Chenel, another NATO commander. "If there is a threat, all forces will be able to intervene. Everyone will be deployed and, in an immediate threat, go anywhere at any moment," the French officer said.

ISAF officials said that despite rising Taliban violence, less than one percent of polling stations were at risk of attack.

But ISAF spokesman Brigadier General Eric Tremblay acknowledged: "Despite the best plans in place, there will always be some residual risk."

Around eight districts – out of 365 nationwide – contain "high risk" areas where polling stations are considered unlikely to open, mainly in the Taliban heartland of southern Afghanistan.

nda/AFP/Reuters/AP
Editor: Nancy Isenson