Afghans vote in run-off poll amid Taliban threats
KABUL, June 14 (AFP) - Afghans defied Taliban threats by voting today in a secondround presidential election, as US-led combat troops wind down a 13-year war that has failed to defeat the insurgents.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for two rockets that exploded near Kabul airport as polls opened, but Afghan and NATO officials said there were no casualties.
The run-off election will decide whether former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah or ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani leads the country into a new era of declining international military and civilian assistance.
President Hamid Karzai is due to step down after ruling the country since 2001, when a US-led offensive ousted the austere Taliban regime for sheltering Al-Qaeda militants behind the 9/11 attacks.
"We are very proud to be choosing our favourite candidate," Karzai said after voting. "Today Afghanistan goes from a transition period toward long-lasting peace and stability." Afghan officials and international allies are hoping for a repeat of the first-round vote in April, when the insurgents failed to launch a single high-profile attack and voter turnout was more than 50 percent.
But the stakes are high with the Taliban issuing specific threats to target polling stations and widespread fears that electoral fraud could produce a contested result.
UN head of mission Jan Kubis issued a stark warning to candidates' supporters not to resort to the ballot-box stuffing that marred the 2009 election when Karzai retained power.
"Do not commit fraud. Do not use intimidation or manipulation to favour your candidate," he said ahead of polling day.
Abdullah secured 45 percent of the firstround vote with Ghani on 31.6 percent, after investigations into multiple fraud claims from both sides.
The two candidates came top of an eightman field, triggering the run-off election as neither reached the 50 percent threshold needed for outright victory.
"I want someone who can improve our economy, create jobs and improve our lives," said Janat Gul, 45, a shopkeeper voting in Kabul.
"If the economy is good there will be no insurgency, everyone will be busy working, not fighting." A smooth handover in Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power would be a major achievement for the international effort to establish a functioning state after the depredations of the Taliban era. The country has seen massive changes as billions of dollars of aid money poured in, bringing rapid development in some cities but only limited improvements in security, women's rights and education.