Afghans Vote Amid Violence, but Turnout Uncertain

Source: NYT

Afghans Vote Amid Violence, but Turnout Uncertain
By CARLOTTA GALL

KABUL, Afghanistan — Defying Taliban warnings and a flurry of rocket attacks apparently aimed at polling stations, Afghans voted Thursday in an election that has become a critical benchmark of the nation’s progress for both the Afghan government and the Obama administration.

But initial reports suggested a patchy turnout as insurgents threw up makeshift roadblocks in one area to warn off voters and, in the southern city of Kandahar, hanged two people because their fingers were marked with ink used to denote that they had voted.

In Kabul, Afghan police exchanged fire on Thursday with three suspected Taliban suicide bombers who occupied a building in the eastern part of the capital, Reuters reported. A Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, was quoted as saying three Taliban guerrillas were involved in the incident, part of a strategy to disrupt the election, which is proving tighter than expected.

On Thursday morning in Kandahar, a reporter walking through the city early in the day saw few people on the streets after nine rockets were fired. But when the rocket fire eased, people began making their way to the polling stations.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/21/world/asia/21afghan.html?_r=1

---

Polls opened at 7 a.m. and voting was due to end at 4 p.m.

*

August 20, 2009, 6:47 am
Latest Updates on Afghanistan’s Election
By Robert Mackey

To supplement the main news article on Thursday’s elections in Afghanistan, which is being written and updated throughout the day by Carlotta Gall in Kabul with input from New York Times reporters around the country, the At War blog will be rounding up coverage of the election on other Web sites today. We will also be bringing readers news from various polling stations submitted to us by our colleagues in the field. Readers who are in Afghanistan are invited to share their experiences of the day with us.

Update | 6:41 a.m. The polls will close within the hour in Afghanistan (which is 8.5 hours ahead of New York). As my colleague Carlotta Gall writes, Afghans who voted today were “defying Taliban warnings and a flurry of rocket attacks apparently aimed at polling stations.” Another colleague, Richard Oppel filed this report to the At War blog one one of those attacks:

I’m in Khan Neshin, a desolate village along the Helmand River that is the southernmost outpost of the marine brigade in Helmand Province. This morning I was at the only polling place in southern Helmand. About 100 people voted by 10 a.m. Then a rocket struck less than a half mile away. The voting line had already thinned to almost nothing by then, and few people came after that attack. At 1 p.m. another rocket struck very close to the mosque that is serving as the polling place. Expectations are that very few people will now vote the remainder of the afternoon because of these attacks. The rocket strikes follow a series of Taliban “night letters” distributed in the area over the past few days warning that anyone who voted would be dealt with severely. The marines here said they were heartened that some people did turn out to vote, but they noted that more than 1,000 had registered here just a month ago. ... http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/latest-updates-on-afghanistans-election/

THE PUPPET MAYOR OF KABUL

THE RIGHT HON. CHARLIE MCKARZAI



Originally appointed by the Right Hon. AWOL Chimpanzee of Texas

justification for continuing in Afghanistan.

I hope and pray the American People are not that stupid in today's modern world.

"We were attacked because of our way of life NOT because of our government. These people are WACKO." During Vietnam, "If we don't stay in Vietnam the commies will take over the world! Those gooks are EVIL ... less than human and want to replace our way of life with communism." :crazy:

Update | 7:50 a.m. As the polls begin to close, our colleague Carlotta Gall writes that “initial reports from witnesses suggested that the turnout was uneven, with higher participation in the relatively peaceful north than in the troubled south.” In addition to attacks on or near polling places in some areas, the most chilling reports suggest that the Taliban may have taken revenge on some voters. Ms. Gall writes: “In the southern city of Kandahar, witnesses said, insurgents hanged two people because their fingers were marked with indelible ink used to denote that they had voted.”

Still, security is better in some parts of the country and BBC correspondents report from the towns of Lashkar Gah and Herat that Afghan women who made it to the polls seemed determined to take part in the election. CarolineWyatt reports from Lashkar Gah that female votes in the mainly Pashtun area in the east of the country “said that their life was miserable when the Taliban was in charge, that they wanted to carry on with the reforms that had been made.” Ilyas Khan reports from a part of the Western city of Herat that is dominated by ethnic Hazara migrants, who are mainly Shiite, “a polling officer says 60% of voters turning out by 3pm have been women.” ... http://atwar.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/08/20/latest-updates-on-afghanistans-election/

AfPak Daily Brief
Daily brief: Afghanistan votes: scattered attacks, low turnout

http://afpak.foreignpolicy.com/dailybrief