BBC News - "Afghan poll hailed as a 'success'"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8212306.stm

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Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies have pronounced the country's election a success, after voting passed off largely peacefully.

Mr Karzai hailed Afghans for braving Taliban "bombs and intimidations". His praise was echoed by the US and Nato.

There were some attacks by insurgents, but the UN says the vast majority of polling stations were able to function.

President Karzai is facing challenges from about 30 rivals. Official results are not expected for two weeks.

"The Afghan people dared rockets, bombs and intimidations," he told reporters as polls closed following a one-hour extension.

"We'll see what the turnout was. But they came out to vote. That's great."

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said: "Lots of people have defied threats of violence and terror to express their thoughts about the next government for the people of Afghanistan."

Mr Karzai said that based on reports by the interior ministry, 73 attacks had taken place in 15 provinces.

Among the violent incidents reported:

* Taliban militants stormed a town in Baghlan, northern Afghanistan, preventing polling stations from opening, police tell AFP news agency. At least eight died in ensuing clashes with police
* Taliban militants set fire to a bus on the Kandahar-Kabul highway in Ghazni, after offloading passengers and the driver, reportedly as punishment for violating a Taliban ban on using the road
* Rockets hitting houses in Khost and Kandahar provinces killed two women and several children
* More than 20 rockets landed in the capital of Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand province, a Taliban stronghold
* In northern Baghlan province, a district police chief was killed when Taliban militants attacked a police post
* Some 300,000 Afghan and Nato troops were on patrol to prevent attacks during the presidential and local polls.

Patchy turnout

Kai Eide, the head of the UN mission in Kabul said that overall, the security situation had been "better than we feared" and had "allowed people to take part in the elections
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, for his part, issued a statement congratulating "the women and men of Afghanistan on today's presidential and provincial council elections".

The polls are the first organised primarily by Afghans themselves.

Speaking on state TV, the director of Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission, Azizullah Loudin, claimed turnout had been "high".

Apart from the earlier gun battle in Kabul, the city was mainly reported to be quiet, with a brisk turnout in some polling stations while there was little activity in others.

Fewer people voted in the south and east, where militant influence is greater.

In Jalalabad, in the eastern province of Nangarhar, some districts reported no voters at all.

In the southern city of Kandahar - the historical stronghold of the Taliban - a voting official told AP news agency that turnout appeared to be 40% lower than during the 2004 election.

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Time to bring the troops home.