lucky wilbury
09-17-2005, 11:35 PM
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/09/17/afghan.elections/index.html
Afghanistan holds landmark elections
Voters head to polls in first parliamentary vote in a generation
(CNN) -- Polls have opened in Afghanistan's first parliamentary election in more than 30 years.
Security was tight across the country Sunday as voters chose seats in a National Assembly and provisional councils.
The nation's 12 million registered voters are able to go to more than 6,000 polling stations. The stations were being guarded by some 100,000 Afghan police and soldiers and 30,000 international troops, The Associated Press reported.
The Taliban has called for a boycott of the elections but said it would not attack civilians heading to the polls.
Battles between U.S. and Afghan forces and Islamic militants, including remnants of the Taliban, have persisted for weeks as the vote approached.
In the violence, at least a half-dozen candidates for office have been killed. Also, 17 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan since August, most in combat. Afghan security forces and citizens also have died.
Afghanistan, which elected a president last fall, is braving Taliban threats and warlord intimidation of citizens who choose to participate in the voting.
Human Rights Watch said in a report released last week that the political process leading up to the elections "has been undermined by insurgent attacks and intimidation by warlords."
Coalition and Afghan troops have bolstered security during voting for for the lower house of parliament and councils for each of the 34 provinces.
The U.S. military said the national police have been providing security at each of the polling stations and post-election counting stations and will have a quick-reaction force in every province.
The national army and coalition forces are conducting patrols and establishing checkpoints throughout the country.
Jean Arnault, special representative in Afghanistan for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the people are seeing "an unmistakable confirmation that there is in this country the emergence of a new political culture."
"Of course the involvement of women, not only now as voters but also as candidates, is probably the more visible part of that new culture.
"But I actually believe that in addition to this pluralism, a sense of freedom of assembly and opinion, a sense that the legacy of the rule of the gun can be resisted is now taking root ,and I think that is alongside the importance of the future parliament.
"That culture is perhaps one of the most important outcomes of the ... process that has unfolded across the election of the transitional authority, the adoption of the constitution, the presidential and now the parliamentary election."
Polls were scheduled to close at 4 p.m. (11:30 a.m. GMT)
Afghanistan holds landmark elections
Voters head to polls in first parliamentary vote in a generation
(CNN) -- Polls have opened in Afghanistan's first parliamentary election in more than 30 years.
Security was tight across the country Sunday as voters chose seats in a National Assembly and provisional councils.
The nation's 12 million registered voters are able to go to more than 6,000 polling stations. The stations were being guarded by some 100,000 Afghan police and soldiers and 30,000 international troops, The Associated Press reported.
The Taliban has called for a boycott of the elections but said it would not attack civilians heading to the polls.
Battles between U.S. and Afghan forces and Islamic militants, including remnants of the Taliban, have persisted for weeks as the vote approached.
In the violence, at least a half-dozen candidates for office have been killed. Also, 17 U.S. troops have died in Afghanistan since August, most in combat. Afghan security forces and citizens also have died.
Afghanistan, which elected a president last fall, is braving Taliban threats and warlord intimidation of citizens who choose to participate in the voting.
Human Rights Watch said in a report released last week that the political process leading up to the elections "has been undermined by insurgent attacks and intimidation by warlords."
Coalition and Afghan troops have bolstered security during voting for for the lower house of parliament and councils for each of the 34 provinces.
The U.S. military said the national police have been providing security at each of the polling stations and post-election counting stations and will have a quick-reaction force in every province.
The national army and coalition forces are conducting patrols and establishing checkpoints throughout the country.
Jean Arnault, special representative in Afghanistan for U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, said the people are seeing "an unmistakable confirmation that there is in this country the emergence of a new political culture."
"Of course the involvement of women, not only now as voters but also as candidates, is probably the more visible part of that new culture.
"But I actually believe that in addition to this pluralism, a sense of freedom of assembly and opinion, a sense that the legacy of the rule of the gun can be resisted is now taking root ,and I think that is alongside the importance of the future parliament.
"That culture is perhaps one of the most important outcomes of the ... process that has unfolded across the election of the transitional authority, the adoption of the constitution, the presidential and now the parliamentary election."
Polls were scheduled to close at 4 p.m. (11:30 a.m. GMT)