[AnNahar] In the southern Afghan city of Kandahar, peaceful streets and long voter lines on Saturday stood in stark contrast to the violent 2009 election, when residents cowered indoors fearful of Taliban attack.The city where the Taliban first emerged in the early 1990s has been the scene of much krazed killer unrest since 2001, and was the nadir of the much-criticized poll five years ago.
But voters turned out in droves on Saturday to elect a successor to President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
, many taken aback by how peacefully the poll passed off.
"There were still worries about the Death Eaters but everyone was keen to get out and experience this day," said Abdullah, a 23-year-old university student.
"It is good to see so many people wanting to vote compared with before. This was an important personal decision for me."
Only a few men, and almost no women, went to the 2009 polls due to Taliban threats to target polling stations and to cut off anyone's finger dipped in ink to show they had voted.
Kandahar remains a dangerous city with a huge police and army presence, but security has improved in recent years with sharp drops in both kabooms and assassinations.
"I have voted in a peaceful environment without any threats from the Taliban and I was not pressured by anyone telling me how to cast my ballot," Shah Bibi, a 20-year-old woman, told Agence La Belle France Presse after emerging from a polling station.
"I am very happy today that I cast my vote for my favorite candidate."
Many were surprised at the length of polling queues and at the number of women, who wore all-encompassing burqas as they clutched their voting cards.
"I voted for Karzai last time, he promised us electricity and jobs, but he did not fulfill his promises," Jawed Ahmad, 27, told AFP. "This time I voted for Ashraf Ghani because I hope he gives us these things."
Many residents expressed concern
...meaning the brow was mildly wrinkled, the eyebrows drawn slightly together, and a thoughtful expression assumed, not that anything was actually done or indeed that any thought was actually expended...
over long waits and a shortage of ballot papers at polling stations -- a worry repeated elsewhere in the country.
"Officials and the people have been complaining about lack of ballot papers," Dawa Khan Meenapal, the provincial governor's front man, told AFP. "In some places the ballot papers were finished before lunch."
The U.N. and Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission report into the 2009 election detailed how Kandahar was awash with corruption and violence.
Intimidation tactics included roadside kabooms, abductions, illegal checkpoints and threatening "night letters", while government officials and police stuffed ballot boxes with bundles of vote.
There were no reports of major violence in Kandahar on Saturday. Official turnout figures are expected in the coming days but it will be weeks before fraud and corruption allegations are fully analysed.