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DEAR readers, the orderly way the parliamentary and provincial assembly elections were held in Afghanistan yesterday is reassurance that the system of democracy has come to stay in the landlocked nation, despite the many threats it faced. The good news from Afghanistan is also that the warlords and others who tried to thwart the election process have failed miserably. All what they could do was to close down a few polling stations for a few hours, or kill some candidates in the run-up to the polls, or take the lives of a few people in stray cases of violence. That...

President Congratulates Afghan People and Government on Successful Parliamentary Elections I congratulate the Afghan people and Afghan Government for today's successful parliamentary elections, which are a major step forward in Afghanistan's development as a democratic state governed by the rule of law. Braving deadly attacks and threats of violence, Afghans voted in large numbers for representatives to their new National Assembly and Provincial Councils. We commend the tremendous progress that the Afghan people havemade in recent years, and we pledge the full support of the United States as Afghanistan acts to meet the new challenges ahead. # # #...

Afghanistan’s first parliamentary and provincial poll in thirty years passed without major incident on Sunday, with a high degree of voter participation, election officials report. "The election was held in a peaceful manner…there was also a high level of political awareness and participation amongst the Afghan people," Bimillah Bismal, chairman of the Afghan-UN Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) said as polling booths closed across the country. Despite the huge challenge of providing security and voting materials to thousands of isolated communities, according to the JEMB, of the 6,200 polling centres established across Afghanistan, only 16 were not operational on voting...

KABUL -- Afghans chose a legislature for the first time in decades Sunday, embracing their newly recovered democratic rights and braving threats of Taliban attacks to cast votes in schools, tents and mosques. Violence in the hours before voting began and during the day killed 15 people, including a French commando in the U.S.-led coalition that is helping Afghans build a democracy after a quarter-century of conflict. But there were no signs of a spectacular attack threatened by Taliban militants to disrupt the vote. Sunday's vote was considered the last formal step toward democracy on a path set out after...

“I am very confident [that] on the 19th of September, the day after the elections here, we are all going to wake up and realize that the heroes of Afghanistan were the people that went out and cast their vote for their own future.” The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, commenting on Afghanistan’s 18 September parliamentary elections. This post will serve as a comprehensive roundup for the elections in Afghanistan. It will include links to news article, analysis from international organizations, and commentary from bloggers. Of course, don’t forget to check out the Afghanistan archive,...

Updated: 1:48 p.m. ET Sept. 18, 2005 KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghans chose a legislature for the first time in decades Sunday, embracing their newly recovered democratic rights and braving threats of Taliban attacks to cast votes in schools, tents and mosques. Violence in the hours before voting began and during the day killed 15 people, including a French commando in the U.S.-led coalition that is helping Afghans build a democracy after a quarter-century of conflict. But there were no signs of a spectacular attack threatened by Taliban militants to disrupt the vote. Sunday’s vote was considered the last formal step...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghans chose a legislature for the first time in decades Sunday, embracing their newly recovered democratic rights and braving threats of Taliban attacks to cast votes in schools, tents and mosques. --- snip ---- With nearly three-quarters of the populace illiterate, voting was slow as people spent as much as 10 minutes wading through ballots up to seven pages long to find pictures of candidates or symbols that represent them. Each voter dipped a finger in indelible purple ink to prevent repeat voting.

MILLIONS of Afghan voters ignored threatened violence as they streamed to the polls yesterday, but as voting closed there was rising official anxiety over a marked fall-away in voter interest since last year's presidential poll. About 40 attacks were reported during the day, including a missile strike on a United Nations compound in Kabul, but the Taliban and other anti-Kabul forces failed to deliver the "spectacular event" they had promised would disrupt the poll. Voters delivered on official predictions that millions would turn out, but diplomatic, UN and other observers were perplexed by a lessening of public interest after saturation...

KABUL, Sept 18 (Reuters) - Afghans head to the polls on Sunday for parliamentary elections nearly four years after the Taliban were ousted, with turnout expected to be high despite a wave of militant violence and threats of more. Eleven people were killed in guerrilla clashes on the eve of the elections for a national assembly and councils in all 34 provinces, but U.N. organisers said they were confident voting could be held across the country. Enthusiasm among Afghans to vote in their first free legislative elections in more than 30 years is high. "I am excited," said 19-year-old high...

Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan — Officials urged Afghans on Saturday to defy Taliban insurgents and powerful warlords by turning out in force for Sunday's landmark parliamentary elections despite a wave of rebel attacks that killed 12 more people. Security forces reported thwarting an attempt to blow up a big dam in the south and three other bomb plots, underlining the threat to a ballot aimed at bolstering Afghanistan's fragile democracy and marginalizing insurgents after decades of bloodshed. Top U.N. envoy Jean Arnault said militants failed to disrupt poll preparations with a surge of fighting that has killed more than 1,200...

KABUL, Afghanistan — When the people of Afghanistan cast their ballots tomorrow to elect a lower house of parliament and councils for each of their nation’s 34 provinces, their safety and security will be ensured through the coordinated efforts of the Afghan National Police, Afghan National Army, as well as Coalition forces. “The ANP will provide the first line of security throughout the country for the elections,” said U.S. Army Maj. Michael Adelberg of the Office of Security Cooperation–Afghanistan’s Directorate of Police Sector Reform. “They are providing security at each of the 6,100-plus polling stations for several days around the...

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (AP) - Suspected Taliban rebels ambushed a police patrol in southern Afghanistan on the eve of landmark legislative elections, sparking a fierce battle that left seven insurgents dead, officials said Saturday. The guerrillas ambushed the police as they patrolled the main highway linking the capital Kabul with the southern city of Kandahar late Friday, said Gulam Rasool, a government chief in Sharisafar district. An insurgent rocket slammed into a police car, setting it on fire, but all the officers inside managed to escape, he said. "The Taliban are intent on disrupting the election," Rasool said. "But we are...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 16, 2005 – More than 12 million Afghans are registered to vote in the country's general assembly elections slated for Sept. 18, a senior U.S. military officer told Pentagon reporters today. Speaking from Bagram, Afghanistan, during a video teleconferenced briefing, Army Brig. Gen. James G. Champion, deputy commander of Combined Joint Task Force 76, told journalists he predicts a "very successful" election. CJTF 76 is responsible for combat and reconstruction operations in southeastern Afghanistan. The Afghan people are "tired of this war," Champion said, and will demonstrate their displeasure with the anti-democratic insurgency "by voting on Sunday." Afghans...

Taliban militants shot dead seven Afghan civilians after finding a registration document for the weekend's milestone elections in their car, a provincial governor told AFP. Tuesday's attack in the central province of Uruzgan is the latest in a wave of violence ahead of Sunday's parliamentary and provincial council polls which has left more than 1,000 people dead this year. Governor Jan Mohammad Khan told AFP the rebels stopped a vehicle carrying seven people in Gizab district. "They searched everybody and found an official document, a car registration for election day, on one of them. Then the Taliban killed the seven...

Apparent Karzai Victory in Afghanistan a Big Win for Democracy By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Oct. 28, 2004 -- Although the Joint Election Management Body won't officially certify results of the Afghan elections for a few more days, interim President Hamid Karzai appears to be the clear winner, the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said Oct. 27. But the biggest winners, Zalmay Khalilzad said at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, "are those who believe in the vision of a moderate and democratic Afghanistan, one that will be an enduring partner in the war against extremism...

Officials Say Karzai Is Clear Winner Tue Oct 26, 2:20 PM ET World - AP Asia By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer KABUL, Afghanistan - More than two weeks after Afghanistan (news - web sites)'s first presidential election, vote counting wrapped up Tuesday and interim leader Hamid Karzai emerged with a resounding victory. AP Photo AFP Slideshow: Afghanistan Officials: Karzai Is Clear Afghan Vote Winner (AP Video) With his inauguration to a five-year term a month away, the U.S.-backed Karzai already is under pressure to ditch his coalition with powerful warlords and tackle a booming narcotics industry that has become...

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Counties across Alabama struggled to deal with a backlog of thousands of last-minute voter registrations as the state's longtime head of voter registration quit Wednesday less than two weeks before Election Day. Secretary of State Nancy Worley's office also was attempting to sort out a record-keeping discrepancy that left uncertain the actual number of registered voters in the state — thought to be around 2.54 million. The seeming disarray led some would-be voters to wonder whether their vote would get counted on Nov. 2. "It looks like it's crooked," said Robert Wells, who moved to suburban...

Preliminary figures in the Afghan presidential election indicate interim leader Hamid Karzai has won the simple majority needed to avoid a run-off. With 94.4% of votes counted, Mr Karzai has 55.3%, 39 points ahead of main rival Yunus Qanuni. Mr Qanuni's spokesman on Sunday conceded Mr Karzai was the winner. However, the election organisers will not announce an official result until all ballots are counted and a UN probe of voting irregularities is completed. No announcement The BBC's Andrew North in Kabul says workers in Mr Karzai's office believe they now have the necessary majority after two weeks of counting...

KABUL (Reuters) - Hamid Karzai's main rival for the Afghan presidency, Yunus Qanuni, has conceded defeat with less than six percent of the vote count remaining. A spokesman said on Sunday Qanuni would accept Karzai's victory despite irregularities in the October 9 election -- Afghanistan's first ever direct presidential ballot. "We will accept the result because we do not want to drag the country into crisis," Sayed Hamid Noori told Reuters. "We accept in the interests of the nation, because we don't want to face another crisis," the spokesman replied, when asked if Qanuni was conceding. With 94.6 percent of...

KABUL (Reuters) - A Taliban suicide fighter killed himself and wounded at least seven others, including three members of a NATO (news - web sites)-led peacekeeping force, in a grenade attack on a busy shopping street in central Kabul on Saturday. The attack in the Afghan capital came as election workers entered the closing stages of a marathon count from a landmark presidential poll on Oct. 9, with incumbent Hamid Karzai polling 54.6 percent of the votes tallied so far. Kabul police chief General Baba Jan said the attacker had six hand grenades strapped to his body, but three failed...