Afghans turn out to vote, ignore Taliban threats

Afghans turned out eagerly to vote today in their first democratic parliamentary elections in 35 years, expressing hope for a government tha...

Afghans turned out eagerly to vote today in their first democratic parliamentary elections in 35 years, expressing hope for a government that will be answerable to the people, despite a number of scattered attacks around the country.

Afghan men cast their ballots at a polling station in a 300-year-old mosque today. Over a dozen violent incidents, including rocket attacks and small arms fire, occurred overnight and this morning around the country, said a Defence Ministry spokesman, Gen. Zaher Azimi.

Small arms fire in an area in Kunar Province in eastern Afghanistan this morning forced officials to close several polling centers temporarily until security could be restored, said Peter Erben, the international adviser to the Joint Election Management Board. Three polling centres came under fire overnight but opened on time for voting, and two rockets hit a United Nations warehouse in Kabul this morning, wounding a local member of the staff.

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“I came for my country and for a better future,” said Alem, 25, a fruit seller, one of scores of men and women lined up under flags and colored bunting in the main mosque of Kabul’s old city. Like many Afghans, he uses only one name. “We will have a good future with a Parliament. They should serve us well and bring some prosperity and security,” he said.

Looking sleepy as he voted at 7 a.m. at government offices in central Kabul, President Hamid Karzai said: “It’s a day of self-determination for the Afghan people. After 30 years of wars, interventions occupation and misery, today Afghanistan is moving forward, making an economy, making political institutions.”

One of the leading opposition politicians, Muhammad Yunus Qanooni, called it a memorable day.

Some voters said they hoped the election of a Parliament would bring changes in the government.

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“President Karzai made big promises to us and nothing appeared,” said Muhammad Es Haq, 50, an unemployed man who said he survived on charity as a cleaner at his local mosque. “If it is a good Parliament, they will make something of those promises.”

There were scattered incidents of violence across the south and east. In Spin Boldak district of Kandahar Province, a French Special Forces soldier was killed by a roadside bomb and another injured early this morning, a security official with the United Nations said. In eastern Khost Province, the police chief, Gen. Mohamed Ayub, said insurgents attacked a checkpoint on the road, killing two Afghan police officers, injuring two Afghan soldiers and a member of the US-led forces. Two suspected Taliban gunmen were also killed and a cache of weapons seized. In another part of the province, near the border with Pakistan, two bombs, installed inside pens and set on timers, were discovered inside a ballot box at a polling station for Kuchi nomads.

In Urozgan, north of here, late Saturday night, five rockets were fired near a polling station, but no injuries were reported. In Helmand, to the west, an attack on a polling station spawned a firefight with police and left two Taliban gunmen dead, according to police. And in Shari Safa district, in Zabul province, police said they had killed seven suspected Taliban gunmen. —NYT