Zeenews Bureau
Kabul: Thousands of polling centres across Afghanistan opened for voting on Thursday, and millions of Afghans were expected to choose a new president to lead a nation plagued by armed insurgency, drugs, corruption and a feeble government.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai was captured by photograhers when he cast his vote today at the polls.
Turnout, particularly in the violent south, will be key to the vote`s success — the country`s second direct Presidential Election. Taliban militants have pledged to disrupt the vote and have circulated threats that those who cast ballots will be punished.
Helicopters circled overhead in the capital as police manned extra checkpoints. In one northern Kabul neighbourhood, a car with loudspeakers encouraged people to vote.
Karzai, who has held power since the Taliban was ousted eight years ago, is favoured to finish first among 36 official candidates, although a late surge by former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah could force a runoff if no one wins more than 50 percent.
Preliminary results were expected to be announced on Saturday Kabul time.
Meanwhile, a salvo of small rockets hit the southern city of Kandahar today, the provnincial governor said, as Afghans prepared to vote.
"Yes, rockets have landed," provincial governor Tooryalai Wesa told reporters after casting his vote at a polling station in the town. A reporter in the town heard two blasts on its outskirts just before polls opened, and two security sources said four people were injured.
Violence has risen sharply in Afghanistan the last three years, and the US now has more than 60,000 forces in the country close to eight years after the US invasion following the September 11 attacks of 2001.
International officials predict an imperfect outcome for a vote that they hope Afghans will accept as credible — a key component of President Barack Obama`s war strategy.
‘Afghan polls most important event this year’
The Obama administration has said that the Presidential and the Provincial Elections are the most important event that will happen in Afghanistan this year.
"The Presidential and the Provincial Elections are the most important event that will happen in Afghanistan this year. We wish the Afghans well in their election tomorrow. I think, this is an important event in choosing their own leaders," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said at his daily press briefing.
Gibbs said the US will continue to monitor the security situation in the country on the election day. "The President increased our troop commitment, to Afghanistan, based on a
belief that the security situation for these elections was tremendously important. We certainly continue to monitor that," he said.
However, Obama administration`s top point man for the region, Richard Holbrooke did not issue any statement on the eve of the elections.
Neither did the US issue the customary congratulatory message to the people of Afghanistan on the occasion of the country`s 90th Independence Day yesterday.
