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)