Tight security to prevent Taliban attacks :
Afghans vote in second election
AFGHANISTAN: Afghan- istan went to the polls Thursday to elect
a president for just the second time in its war-torn history with a
sweeping security clampdown in force to prevent threatened Taliban
attacks.
Dozens of people queued up at polling stations in the capital Kabul
and at towns in the largely peaceful north, but early turnout was poor
in parts of the south where the Taliban have a strong presence owing to
security fears.
The Islamist militia has struck repeatedly inside the capital in a
bloody countdown to the elections aimed at putting the country more
firmly on the path to democracy eight years after the US-led invasion
ousted the Taliban.
Western-backed President Hamid Karzai hopes to win an outright
majority to avoid a run-off, but his nervous government has ordered a
blackout on reporting violence during polling day, threatening
journalists with heavy penalties.
An energetic campaign by ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who
has a northern powerbase and draws on ethnic Tajik support, has boosted
the chance of a run-off, which would take place in around six weeks
time.
Explosions were reported in the southern city of Kandahar, where four
blasts rang out an hour before polls opened, in central town Ghazni and
northern town Kunar, where a witness said five of his relatives were
wounded by rocket fire.
“I request my dear countrymen to come out and cast their vote to
decide their future,” said Karzai after casting his vote in a Kabul
boys’ school. Kabul, Thursday, AFP |