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Afghans vote for president amid fears of attacks

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-20 09:33

A member of Afghanistan's army stops a car for inspection at a checkpoint, near the airport in Herat, western Afghanistan August 19, 2009. [Agencies]

One fear is that Abdullah's followers may charge fraud and take to the streets if Karzai claims a first-round victory without a strong southern turnout.

The country has been rife with rumors of ballot stuffing, bogus registrations and trafficking in registration cards on behalf of the incumbent, allegations his campaign has denied.

Mindful of the dangers, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton urged Afghans this week to hold "credible, secure and inclusive elections" and called on candidates and their supporters "to behave responsibly before and after the elections" -- a clear warning against street demonstrations by disappointed politicians.

"It's very difficult in Afghanistan to see perfect elections," Richard Holbrooke, Obama's Afghanistan-Pakistan envoy, said during a news conference in Pakistan. "Nowhere in the world (is there) a perfect election. Don't expect perfect elections in Afghanistan."

In the south, turnout may be affected by the Taliban campaign of intimidation -- whispered threats, posted warnings and a run of headline-grabbing attacks in Kabul -- aimed at frightening Afghans from going to the polls.

"The Taliban control our area and they have already warned us that they will cut off our fingers or kill us if we vote," said Abdul Majid, 25, a shop owner in Ghazni city. "I don't want to vote."

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In Afghanistan's two most important and dangerous southern provinces -- where thousands of US troops deployed this summer -- more than 130 polling stations will not open, officials said. These included 107 out of 242 polling stations in Helmand province, the focus of the most recent fighting, and 17 out of 271 in Kandahar, where the Taliban Islamist movement was born.

Underscoring the threat, four election workers were killed Tuesday delivering materials to a polling station in northeastern Badakhshan, a province generally considered safe. Two elections workers died in a separate incident the same day when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Kandahar province, officials said Wednesday.

And on the eve of the voting, three gunmen described by police as Taliban militants took over a bank in Kabul. Police stormed the building and killed the three.

Fearing that violence may dampen turnout, the Foreign Ministry asked news organizations to avoid "broadcasting any incidence of violence" during voting hours "to ensure the wide participation of the Afghan people." Afghan journalists said they would not comply, but the government said offending foreign journalists could be expelled.

Still, some southern Pashtuns said they would defy the Taliban.

"I'm only afraid of God, not the Taliban," said Haji Mohammad Rasool, 40, in Kandahar City. "Last night during dinner, I told my son and daughters to go and vote. This is our country. We should not live in fear."

In Helmand, about 70 people registered to vote in Dahaneh, a village overrun by US Marines this month after years of Taliban control.

"I know it's dangerous and I'm afraid, but I'm still going to vote," said Ahmed Shah, a 37-year-old farmer. Shah said he planned to vote for Karzai "so that we finally get a hospital and a school and maybe a road."

Adding to problems in the south, election officials could not recruit enough women to help female voters, raising questions about turnout among women. Election observers also fear that men in conservative Pashtun areas would try to cast multiple votes on behalf of women in their families -- including some who may not exist.

Anthony Cordesman, a former Pentagon analyst from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the election "is not functional democracy by Western standards" but the important thing would be for Afghans to "feel the election was legitimate by their standards."

If not, he wrote in a commentary, Afghans will "see the government as distant, corrupt, and ineffective," and empower the Taliban.

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Related Links

• Office of President of Afghanistan
• Official Website of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah
• Independent Election Commission
• Electoral Complaints Commission
• UNDP's ELECT Project