(Reuters) – Voting was largely peaceful in Afghanistan’s presidential election on Saturday, with only isolated attacks on polling stations as a country racked by decades of chaos embarked on its first ever democratic transfer of power.
A roadside bomb killed two policemen and wounded two others in the southern city of Qalat as they were returning from a polling station, while four voters were wounded in an explosion at a voting centre in the southeastern province of Logar.
There were no reports of more serious attacks on an election that Taliban insurgents had vowed to derail, branding it a U.S.-backed sham, and many voters said they were determined to make their voices heard despite the threats.
“I am here to vote and I am not afraid of any attacks,” said Haji Ramazan as he stood in line at a polling station in rain-drenched Kabul. “This is my right, and no one can stop me.”
The United States, having spent $90 billion on aid and training for Afghan security forces since it helped vanquish the Taliban in 2001, could point to its success promoting democracy as a major step towards leaving a more stable country.
But the abiding Taliban threat and uncertainty over neighbor Pakistan’s intentions leave the worry that Afghanistan could enter a fresh cycle of violence, and once again become a haven for groups like al Qaeda, after the bulk of U.S. troops leave by the year-end.
Most people expect the election will be better run than the chaotic 2009 vote that handed the outgoing president, Hamid Karzai, a second term amid massive fraud and ballot stuffing.
The stronger the next president’s mandate, the less vulnerable Afghanistan could be to instability. One major concern is that it could take several months for a winner to be declared at a time when the country desperately needs a leader to stem rising violence as foreign troops prepare to leave.
