Afghan voters defy Taliban, cast their ballots for a new president, regional councils

As polls opened amid threats of violence and lingering memories of fraud, Afghan voters turned out on Saturday morning to choose a president who will lead them into the post-American era in Afghanistan. Election day dawned cold and drizzly in Kabul. Residents made their way to ballot boxes in schools and mosques, navigating desolate streets guarded by thousands of police and soldiers across the city. In some locations, the polls opened as much as an hour late, but throughout the morning there were few reports of violence or disruptions. Voters assembled in long and orderly lines at the city’s major high schools and elsewhere to cast their ballots for their first new leader after a dozen years of President Hamid Karzai.

Afghan voters who have lived through decades of war spoke of their hopes for peace, better schools, more jobs. Using a side entrance reserved for female voters, Zakia Raoufi, a 45-year-old housewife, voted at the same school where her son graduated three years ago, and Karzai years before that. After she had woken up, washed and prayed, she said goodbye to her children and left the house for the first time in three days, where she had been worrying about the near daily bombings in Kabul ahead of the election. “I was wondering whether I will come back home alive or not,” she said.

Her son had studied computers and learned English at Habibia High School but the family had no connections among the government elite, and no money to pay bribes for employment, so he moved to Iran and is now working as a tailor.

“So this election means a lot to me. What I’m hoping for from the next president is someone to stop the bloodshed in this country, to provide us peace and stability and education and opportunities for our children,” she said.

“We are not afraid of our enemies anymore,” said Anahita Amadyar, 41, who had voted with Raoufi.

Before the vote, polling suggested a tight race. The palace and Karzai’s inner circle has pushed Zalmay Rassoul, a French-educated physician and former national security advisor and foreign minister. But Abdullah Abdullah, another former foreign minister, and Ashraf Ghani, the former finance minister and World Bank official, have been attracting large crowds at their rallies.

In the last election in 2009, Abdullah ultimately dropped out instead of facing a run-off against Karzai. The vote caused weeks of political crisis and more than a million votes were tossed out because of fraud.

“I hope that the Afghan people can go to the polls and cast their votes in a peaceful environment and use their vote for bringing peace, welfare and stability to the country,” Abdullah said after voting at Lycee Esteqlal high school in Kabul.

There were some reports of violence in some parts of the country. Afghan officials said there had been rocket attacks and IED blasts that have forced some voters to flee. At least four people who were waiting to vote were injured in a blast in Logar province, authorities said. In the volatile Wardak province outside of Kabul, some polling stations were largely deserted and soldiers were engaged in sporadic gunfights with Taliban insurgents. Over the past two presidential elections here, voter turnout has fallen as the insurgency has gained strength.

Early on election morning, Rahmatullah, one of the bodyguards for Kabul’s mayor, received a call from his brother-in-law in the central province of Sar-e-Pul.

“He said, ‘We have been threated by the Taliban not to go out and vote.’ I said, ‘Don’t worry about the Taliban, just go vote,’” Rahmatullah said after he had voted at Lycee Isteqlal, a high-school in downtown Kabul. He dipped his index finger in blue ink and had his voting card punched with a crescent moon.

“Our hope is for peace and stability, for job opportunities, and to provide shelter for the homeless people,” he said. “We are here to decide about the future of Afghanistan.”

Ahmad Shah Hakimi, a 43-year-old official in the commerce ministry, who also works as a currency trader, said he is tired of working for a corrupt government.

“We just want change and we want to elect our own president,” he said. “I voted in the last election, but the government turned out to be corrupted, and people are really tired of that.” Qureshia Sirat Ahmadi, an 18-year-old high school student voting in her first election, said that she was reciting verses from the Koran in her head as she drove to the polling station, to calm her worries. “The enemies of Afghanistan always wants to disturb these national days, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t come and vote,” she said.