Afganistan's historical leadup days and election day October 9, 2004 in pictures

Timeline of Past 25 Years in Afghanistan

Associated Press

Key events in the past 25 years in Afghanistan:

_1979: The Soviet Union sends troops into Afghanistan to support a pro-Moscow regime, sparking a decade-long war with anti-communist forces supplied and trained by the United States.

_1989: The Soviets withdraw after about 15,000 of their soldiers are killed, leaving in place a pro-Moscow government. Fighting persists between Muslim rebels and government forces.

_1992: The puppet government collapses as insurgents advance on the capital, Kabul, ending 14 years of Soviet-backed regimes during which an estimated 2 million Afghans were killed and 6 million fled their homeland. Tension between rival rebels, moderates and Islamic fundamentalist forces quickly leads to further fighting.

_1994: A hard-line Islamic group, the Taliban, is formed.

_1996: With the support of foreign sponsors, the Taliban takes control of Kabul and most of the country, imposing a strict version of Islam.

_1998: The United States fires missiles at suspected bases of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, who is accused of bombing U.S. embassies in East Africa.

_1999: The United Nations imposes sanctions on Afghanistan to try to force the Taliban to hand over bin Laden.

_March 2001: The Taliban blows up two giant 1,500-year-old Buddha statues carved into gray sandstone cliffs, deeming them offensive to Islam.

_Sept. 9, 2001: Two days before the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, two suspected al-Qaida assassins kill the Taliban's No. 1 enemy, Ahmed Shah Masood, head of the rival Northern Alliance.

_Oct. 7, 2001: U.S. and British forces begin airstrikes against Afghanistan after the Taliban refuse to surrender bin Laden, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks.

_Nov. 13, 2001: After weeks of air assaults, Taliban fighters abandon Kabul.

_Dec. 7, 2001: Taliban stronghold Kandahar falls. Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and bin Laden escape.

_Dec. 22, 2002: Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun who leads one of the largest tribes in southern Afghanistan, is sworn in as head of a six-month interim government.

_June 13, 2002: Karzai is elected head of state of a new interim government by the loya jirga, or grand council.

_July 6, 2002: Vice President Abdul Qadir is assassinated.

_Sept. 5, 2002: Gunman fails in assassination attempt of Karzai. Car bombing in Kabul kills about 30 people.

_August 2003: NATO deploys troops to Kabul for a peacekeeping mission. The force later expands to other areas and numbers 9,000.

_Jan. 4, 2004: After three weeks of wrangling, the loya jirga ratifies a constitution, making Afghanistan an Islamic state with a strong president. The meeting paves the way for Oct. 9 elections.

_ Aug. 20, 2004: A nearly yearlong process of registering Afghan voters in the country ends with about 10.6 million of its estimated 25 million people signed up. Twelve election workers were killed in shootings and bombings.

_Sept. 16, 2004: Karzai escapes another assassination attempt when a rocket is fired at his helicopter.

Drug smugglers, not Taliban, said to be behind attack on vice presidential candidate

(Kabul, Afghanistan-AP, Oct. 7, 2004 1:34 PM) _ Drug smugglers -- not the Taliban -- were behind an attack on interim leader Hamid Karzai's vice presidential running-mate, the government said Thursday.

One man was killed and five people were wounded in Wednesday's bombing, including the former governor of Badakhshan, a mountainous northeastern poppy-growing region. Karzai's running-mate, Ahmed Zia Massood, was unhurt.

Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said "the evidence shows that it was the work of drug smugglers, because this process (the election) is against their interests."

Karzai is widely expected to win Saturday's election, and he has said he will use his power as president to crack down on drug barons and warlords. He has 15 rivals, after two minor candidates withdrew Wednesday and threw their support behind Karzai.

Still, it remains to be seen whether Karzai will be able to reach the 50 percent majority necessary to avoid a runoff, which could take weeks to organize and carries with it the threat of more violence.

Some 10.5 million Afghans registered to vote out of an estimated population of 25 million. The country has not had a reliable census in decades.

Karzai praised his people for embracing the elections, despite the bloodshed. He acknowledged problems of rebel violence and warlord intimidation -- even some being carried out in his name -- but said Afghanistan could not wait forever for a vote.

"No election in the world is free of tension ... we all know that," Karzai told the British Broadcasting Corp. "Afghanistan will not be an exception."

Karzai has made it a point in his recent campaign rallies to tell people to vote for him because they want to, not because someone has told them to.

Heroin and opium production has boomed in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.

There has been speculation that drug traffickers might have had a hand in an Aug. 28 car bombing in Kabul that killed 10 people, including three Americans training anti-narcotics police. Taliban or al-Qaida militants also are suspects in the blast.

Wednesday's attack was the third against Karzai and his allies since campaigning began Sept. 7. The president survived a rocket assault on his helicopter on Sept. 16, and one of his four vice presidents survived a bomb attack four days later. The Taliban was suspected in those attacks.

Jalali said Afghan forces have thwarted at least 20 attacks and arrested more than 100 people during the election campaign, but rebels managed more than 60 rocket or bomb attacks. He put the death toll at more than 60.

FACTBOX: Afghan Presidential Election

On Saturday, 9 October, Afghanistan will hold its first-ever direct presidential ballot. The election is a major step in the post-Taliban democratic reforms known as the Bonn process.

WHO WILL VOTE?

Some 10.5 million Afghans are registered for the election. Women make up 41 percent of registered voters.

Afghan refugees living in Pakistan and Iran are expected to represent 10 percent of all votes cast.

The United Nations, which is organizing the polls, says there have been many multiple registrations. Voters will have their fingers marked with indelible ink on election day in an attempt to prevent multiple voting. Actual turnout is expected to be closer to 6 million.

WHO ARE THE CANDIDATES?

There are 16 contenders out of an initial 18 registered candidates.

The incumbent, Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun, is widely considered the front-runner.

Karzai's strongest challenger is expected to be Mohammad Yunos Qanuni, an ethnic Tajik.

Other key candidates include Uzbek commander Abdul Rashid Dostum; Mohammed Mohaqeq, a leader of the Hazara minority; and Mas'uda Jalal, the only female candidate.

WHEN WILL RESULTS BE AVAILABLE?

Partial results are expected by the middle of the week -- around 13 October.

A candidate must receive more than 50 percent of the votes in order to win a first-round victory. If no candidate wins a clear majority on 9 October, there will be a runoff between the two leading candidates. The runoff would likely be held in November.

Karzai is expected to win, but the large number of candidates may make it difficult for him to win in the first round.

A runoff could give Taliban rebels and other Islamic militants more opportunities to disrupt the democratic process in Afghanistan. Regional warlords who oppose a centralized government are also seen as a threat to peaceful elections.

A runoff could also compromise Karzai's authority and give him less freedom in selecting his cabinet.

WILL THE VOTE BE SAFE?

Militants and other elements have vowed to disrupt polling. At least a dozen election workers have died so far in a string of attacks.

Security issues are considered most pressing in the country's south and southeast.

Some 18,000 U.S.-led troops in Afghanistan battling militants will participate in securing the vote.

Another 9,000 NATO-commanded soldiers in the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), will patrol in the capital, Kabul, and much of the north.

They, together with some 60,000 Afghan police and troops will be fanning out to protect the roughly 5,000 polling stations throughout the country.

WHAT ARE THE ISSUES?

Ethnicity is likely to be a crucial factor in most Afghan votes.

Widespread illiteracy and limited campaigning by the candidates means few Afghans are familiar with all 16 candidates or their political platforms.

But general issues of concern include improving security, reducing poverty, and speeding reconstruction.

An Afghan man sits at historic Khajeh Abdullah Ansari's cemetery in Heart in Afghanistan on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2004. Afghanistan's first direct presidential elections will be held on October 9. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

Workers set up the tents that will be used to count the votes in the southern city of Kandahar, Afghanistan Thursday Oct. 7, 2004. After the last vote is cast by the last villager in the most remote of mountain hamlets, the next challenge of Afghanistan's first direct presidential election will start: counting the vote. Election officials and international observers acknowledge that inexperienced staff, inaccessible terrain and the typical chaos present in any nation emerging from a quarter-century of war will make tabulating the returns after Saturday's vote an unprecedented challenge. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

U.S Army soldiers patrol as trucks of U.N. election staff seen in the background during a convoy moving to Karokh area to distribute ballot boxes at Herat airport, Afghanistan, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2004. Afghanistan's first direct presidential elections will be held on Oct. 9. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

An Afghan member of U.N. election staff carries a ballot box during a convoy moving to Karokh area to distribute ballot boxes in Herat, Afghanistan, Thursday, Oct. 7, 2004. Afghanistan's first direct presidential elections will be held on Oct. 9. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian)

Afghans Say Trouble Inevitable But Won't Stop Vote

Thu Oct 7,11:09 AM ET World - Reuters

By Raju Gopalakrishnan

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed on Thursday that a historic presidential election would be successfully held this weekend and reflect the people's wishes despite inevitable sabotage attempts by Taliban fighters.

U.S.-backed Karzai is the favorite to win Saturday's poll, which should legitimize his rule and mark a turning point for a country shattered by more than a quarter-century of war.

He said in a BBC interview he was aware guns and intimidation would play a role in the election.

"How long can we wait for the guns to go before we have elections?" Karzai said. "No election in the world is free of tension. Afghanistan is in a more serious situation because we are emerging out of war.

"But because of the massive enthusiasm and will of the Afghan people to go toward this election and to build their country in a democratic way, I very much hope this election will provide a result that they will like."

Taliban threats to attack anyone taking part in the vote have not stopped more than 10.5 million Afghans of a population of about 28 million, from registering to directly elect their president for the first time.

Women make up more than 40 percent of those who have registered, organizers say. An additional 1.3 million refugees in Pakistan and Iran are also eligible to participate.

The Islamic fundamentalist Taliban, ousted from power in 2001 by U.S.-led forces for refusing to hand over militant ally Osama bin Laden, repeated warnings on Thursday, saying fighters would do whatever they could to disrupt the vote.

"Those who wish to participate, despite the warning, can do so, but it will not be our responsibility if something happens to them," Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said by telephone.

The government said it was ready.

"There is no doubt that terrorists will try to disrupt the election process," said Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali.

"If they attack an election site it will damage the process, but it cannot stop the election," he said.

The election has been held up as a foreign policy success and a victory for democracy by President Bush.

About 18,000 U.S.-led troops are hunting al Qaeda and Taliban leaders and helping a 42,000-strong Afghan police and military force and more than 8,000 NATO-led peacekeepers provide security for the vote.

Bush, who faces re-election himself next month, is hoping a smooth Afghan election could provide a model for January polls in Iraq, which has been plagued by violence since U.S.-led forces ousted Saddam Hussein last year.

FEAR IN THE SOUTH

Still, many in the south of Afghanistan, where Taliban fighters are most active, said women would not be voting.

"It is not because I am scared by the threat of violence," said turbaned, bearded Issa Mohammad, seated with a friend beside a dirt track on the outskirts of Kandahar city.

"It is just not in our tradition. Out of 100 families living in this area, I can tell you that no more than two or three of the women will have voter registration cards."

But plans are underway to ensure that the first person to cast a vote in the election will be a woman -- but she will be in Pakistan.

Polls open at 7 a.m. (0230 GMT) on Saturday in Afghanistan.

Polls for hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees in Pakistan will also open at 7 a.m., but time in Pakistan is half an hour ahead of that in their homeland, so the first vote will be cast at 0200 GMT.

The International Organization for Migration, which is conducting the refugee vote, said it arranged for an Afghan woman to be the first to mark her ballot at a polling station in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, at exactly 7 a.m. Pakistani time.

Karzai's message to the Afghan people has been that they should get out and vote, not necessarily for him.

"I urge you to vote freely, but I promise you that if someone else wins I will respect them and I will respect their vote. It is your choice," he said recently.

Two of the 18 candidates in the fray have said they were withdrawing in favor of Karzai. One was not considered to be very popular but the other, Sayed Ishaq Gailani, is from one of the country's best-known families.

Karzai has always been the favorite to win, but the move by Gailani, a fellow ethnic Pashtun, could help him win the required 51 percent of the vote he needs to avoid a November run-off.

While Karzai is easily the best-known candidate, Afghanistan's patchwork of ethnic groups could work against him if voting is on community lines. Pashtuns, the traditional rulers of Pakistan, make up about 40 percent of the population and Gailani's withdrawal will help avoid a split in the Pashtun vote. (With additional reporting by Sayed Salahuddin and David Fox)

U.S. Base Attacked, Truck Bomb Found Before Afghan Vote

By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - Taliban insurgents fired rockets in parts of Afghanistan and a huge truck bomb was intercepted on the eve of the first presidential election in the rugged, war-torn land, underlining the risk of sabotage by Islamic radicals.

Despite the scattered violence and the ever-present threat of a major attack, there appeared to be growing optimism that Saturday's landmark poll, which President Hamid Karzai is favorite to win, would go off fairly smoothly.

"Yes, security is a concern," said an elderly man with a trim salt-and-pepper beard as he shopped in a Kabul bazaar. "But this will be a great day. I will vote. I'm optimistic that an elected government can improve people's lives."

One rocket exploded in the air above the main U.S. military compound in Kabul before dawn, damaging vehicles in a car park. In the eastern city of Jalalabad, a rocket plowed into a house, wounding two young children, officials said.

Six rockets were fired during the night at the home of the governor of Zabul province in the south, but they all missed.

In nearby Kandahar, the Taliban heartland, government troops stopped a tanker full of fuel on the outskirts of the provincial capital and found explosives hidden in it.

"It is obvious that their main goal was to detonate the truck in Kandahar city," army commander Abdul Ghafur told Reuters.

Other officials said if the fuel truck had exploded in the city it would have devastated a large area and caused hundreds of casualties.

Defense Ministry spokesman Gen Zahir Azimy said troops in the east had arrested two men believed to be suicide bombers.

About 18,000 U.S.-led troops, hunting al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, are helping a 42,000-strong Afghan police and military force and 8,000 NATO-led peacekeepers to provide security. They were on full alert as the nation prepared to vote.

A large turnout and victory for the U.S.-backed Karzai would legitimise his rule and mark a turning point for a country shattered by more than a quarter-century of war.

He said on Thursday the vote could not be delayed any more -- it would go ahead successfully and reflect the wishes of his 28 million people.

"How long can we wait for the guns to go before we have elections?" Karzai said in a BBC interview. "No election in the world is free of tension. Afghanistan is in a more serious situation because we are emerging out of war."

"BE HAPPY"

As worshippers thronged Kabul's mosques for weekly prayers on Friday, much of the talk was about the poll.

"The majority of the people will vote," said Zabihullah Jawad, a university student who was at the Pul-i Khishti Mosque, the largest in the city.

"The election will not only make the destiny of one man, it is important for every individual Afghan. It will make the destiny of each one of them."

The preacher said in the sermon: "Be happy tomorrow, it is a very important moment for Afghanistan. It is important to vote."

More than 10.5 million Afghans within the country have registered to vote, despite threatened Taliban reprisals. Women make up more than 40 percent of those who have registered, organizers say. An additional 1.3 million refugees in Pakistan and Iran are also eligible.

Late on Friday, a Kabul mobile phone company sent a text message to all its subscribers: "One day till election day. Remember to cast your vote. For a better tomorrow."

Karzai is reported to be hoping for a turnout of about 60 percent, which would go a long way to proving democracy has made a strong start. But many believe numbers will fall below that, and many women may not vote.

In the deeply conservative south, some men said they would not vote nor allow their wives and daughters to vote.

"We are against these elections," said Mullah Hassan, speaking at his home in the city of Kandahar.

"I never wanted to take part in it. A successful election here is just a success for the Americans."

President Bush, who faces re-election himself next month, has held up the Afghan poll as his foreign policy success and a victory for democracy.

Washington installed Karzai in office after U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan and removed the Taliban in late 2001 for refusing to hand over Osama bin Laden, the architect of the Sept. 11 attacks.

The Taliban claimed the rocket attacks in Kabul and Jalalabad and vowed to fight U.S. troops with full force.

"Whichever government is made by the Americans for us, it will be unacceptable," Mullah Obaidullah, the former defense minister of the regime, said in a statement.

"The Americans have insulted our autonomy, independence and dignity (and) unjustly invaded our frontiers. We will retaliate to this insulting attitude and treatment with full force."

Karzai has always been favorite to win the election but attention is focused on whether he will get the 51 percent of the vote he needs to avoid a November runoff.

Voting opens at 7 a.m. on Saturday and closes at 4 p.m. Counting will start thereafter and first trends will appear by Monday but a full count is unlikely until late October. (With additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli and David Fox)

Afghans pass by tray with cooked lamb's heads in Kabul's central market October 8, 2004. Afghans go to the polls this Saturday in the country's first-ever direct presidential election that will also be a major test of the U.S.-led nation-building efforts since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban. REUTERS/Desmond Boylan

A Romanian soldier gets ready for a joint patrol with Afghan National Army soldiers, unseen, as security tightens a day before the presidential poll is to take place, at an American command center in the southern city of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Friday, Oct. 8, 2004. More than 100,000 Afghan and foreign security forces were on high alert Friday, the day before the country's first direct presidential election after more than two decades of war. Despite a 24-hour flurry of rocket attacks, fears that Taliban or al-Qaida fighters would launch a massive assault to disrupt Saturday's polls have not materialized so far. It was welcome news in a country that faces a massive task in pulling off its first democratic vote. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, right, and the presidential candidate Mohammed Mohaqeq smile together after a meeting in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Oct. 8, 2004. Afghans will go to the polls on Oct. 9 in the country's first ever direct elections. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Newly-appointed Herat governor Mohammad Khairkhah (C) gets in his car after the Friday prayers outside the Jamee Sunni mosque in Herat, 600 kilometers west of Kabul. Rockets rained on Afghan cities and military posts and a huge truck bomb was seized as the war-weary nation prepared for Saturday's historic presidential elections under the threat of further militant attacks.(AFP/Behrouz Mehri)

Afghan police officers guard in front of a polling station in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Oct. 8, 2004. Afghans will go to the polls on Oct. 9 in the country's first ever direct elections. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Afghan National Army soldiers get on their way to a patrol as security tightens a day before the presidential poll is to take place, in a street of Kandahar, Afghanistan, Friday, Oct. 8, 2004. More than 100,000 Afghan and foreign security forces were on high alert Friday, the day before the country's first direct presidential election after more than two decades of war. Despite a 24-hour flurry of rocket attacks, fears that Taliban or al-Qaida fighters would launch a massive assault to disrupt Saturday's polls have not materialized so far. It was welcome news in a country that faces a massive task in pulling off its first democratic vote. (AP Photo/Elizabeth Dalziel)

Six people injured in pre-election violence in Afghanistan

Fri Oct 8, 8:23 AM ET

KABUL (AFP) - Six people were injured in a string of attacks in southeastern Afghanistan as the war-shattered country prepared for its first-ever presidential elections, officials said.

Two suspected militants loyal to the ousted hardline Islamic Taliban regime were wounded on Thursday after attacking a police patrol in southeastern Kandahar province, interior ministry spokesman Lutfullah Mashal told AFP.

A police officer and a civilian caught in the crossfire were injured during a brief gunfight with insurgents in Samkanay, a troubled district on the Afghan-Pakistani border, he added.

The attacks came as militants rocketed several cities and military outposts in southern and eastern Afghanistan, injuring at least two civilians near a US military base in the Taliban's spiritual home of Kandahar, Mashal said.

One of more than two dozen rockets fired around the country exploded early Friday above the US-led military headquarters in the capital Kabul.

The attacks came hard on the heels of an assassination attempt on US-backed President Hamid Karzai's running mate on Wednesday and the wounding of two US soldiers in a bomb blast in southeast Afghanistan on Thursday.

The Taliban, who were deposed after a US invasion in 2001, and their allies from Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda terror group have vowed to disrupt Saturday's polls, which Karzai is tipped to win.

In Kandahar, police detained three suspects who were carrying explosives in a truck on Friday, local police official, Mohammad Salim said.

"Police and coalition forces are investigating the case," he told AFP by telephone.

Officials have warned that cities face the threat of car-bombs, while armed assaults could hit some of the 5,000 polling stations scattered throughout Afghanistan's rugged landscape.

A total of 100,000 security personnel are deployed around the country to protect voters, the interior ministry said.

They include more than 18,000 US-led troops, mainly operating along the 2,400-kilometer (1,500-mile) Afghan-Pakistani border where militants are most active. Some 9,000 NATO-led peacekeeping forces are also in Afghanistan.

"There is no doubt that the Taliban will make attempts to disrupt the polls," Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali told reporters in Kabul.

Mashal said that on Friday police raided a compound in Kabul where they believed "terrorists" were hiding. No arrests were made but police seized 16 motorcycles which they suspect were for terrorist use.

The Taliban claimed to have killed several US and Afghan soldiers this week, according to the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency.

Taliban spokesman Mufti Lateefullah Hakeemi told the agency 10 Afghan soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in Kandahar province Thursday and that eight US soldiers were killed in Zabul province on Wednesday.

US and Afghan authorities regularly dismiss such claims by the Taliban.

Huge Afghan poll attack 'foiled'

The attack's "main goal" was Kandahar city, officials say Security forces in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar say they have thwarted an attack that could have killed hundreds of people.

A tanker carrying 40,000 litres of fuel and packed with explosives was intercepted on the eve of the country's first direct presidential elections.

More than 100,000 Afghan and international security forces are on high alert ahead of Saturday's vote.

International peacekeepers say they are optimistic the vote will go smoothly.

Voting within Afghanistan itself begins at 0230 GMT.

Afghans refugees registered to vote in neighbouring Pakistan can cast their vote earlier, from 0200 GMT.

Jalalabad arrests

Afghan troops blocked the road leading from Kandahar to the border town of Spin Boldak after the truck was found to have explosives packed in its tyres.

This would have caused hundreds of deaths.. and the electoral process would have been derailed in the area

Colonel Ishaq Paiman, Afghan defence ministry

Afghan commander Abdul Ghafur told Reuters the truck was intercepted after a tip-off.

US forces had used sniffer dogs to foil the attack late on Thursday, he said.

"It is obvious that their main goal was to detonate the truck in Kandahar city," Mr Ghafur said.

Colonel Ishaq Paiman, deputy spokesman for the Afghan defence ministry, said: "This would have caused hundreds of deaths ... and the electoral process would have been derailed in the area."

Nato peacekeepers' spokesman, Lieutenant Commander Ken MacKillop, said three Pakistanis were arrested.

Commander MacKillop also said that two men, one Afghan, one Pakistani, were arrested in the eastern city of Jalalabad while waiting to travel to Kabul.

"They had 12 [improvised explosive devices] in their possession," he said.

Mistaken engagement

Elements of the former Taleban regime have vowed to disrupt Afghanistan's first free, direct elections.

Friday prayers in Herat. Security is tight nationwide.

Khalid Pashtun, a spokesman for the provincial Kandahar government, said the Taleban had attacked Afghan troops in Kandahar's district of Khakrez district, on Thursday.

Three insurgents were killed and six wounded, he said.

In another incident, in southern Helmand province, four soldiers died and four were hurt when Afghan troops and militiamen loyal to the government mistakenly engaged in an hour-long gun battle on Thursday.

Early on Friday, a rocket also landed close to the main headquarters of international peacekeepers in Kabul.

Mr Karzai's vice presidential running mate Ahmed Zia Massood survived an assassination attempt on Wednesday.

Security has been the leading concern in the run-up to the election, seriously curtailing campaigning, which ended on Wednesday.

However, Commander MacKillop said: "Everyone is optimistic that the election will carry forth. We have been working very closely with the Afghan police and army to make sure the security environment... is as safe as possible."

Ballot boxes

Eighteen candidates are standing for president.

Afghan police secured the area after the Kabul rocket attack

About 25,000 polling stations in 5,000 locations across the country will open at 0700 local time on Saturday morning.

Polling begins at 0630 for around 740,000 Afghan refugees in camps in Pakistan. Around another 600,000 may vote in Iran.

In addition to high security, human rights groups have warned that voters may be intimidated.

There will be few independent observers at polling stations.

Voting is scheduled to finish at 1600 local time in Afghanistan.

Ballot boxes will then be sealed and transported to eight regional counting centres.

In this mountainous country, some will have to be taken by helicopter.

Initial results are expected in the coming days but it may take a couple of weeks for all the votes to be counted.

Interim President Hamid Karzai is widely tipped to win, although Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Tajik former education minister Yunus Qanuni have fought high-profile campaigns.

BBC regional analyst Pam O'Toole says many Afghans hope the election will bring an end to the rule of the gun, provide national unity and encourage the flow of further international aid.

She says a lot will depend on how Afghanistan's various power brokers react to the result and how far the victor is prepared to challenge the political status quo in a country that is sometimes described as a series of mini fiefdoms.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.