Afghanistan: Braving threats of violence and sabotage from the Taliban, millions of Afghans went to the polls yesterday for a landmark election marked by calm, confusion and a cautious sense of optimism.
Voters queued under the blazing sun to choose from a colourful range of parliamentary candidates including women, warlords, retired communists and reformed Taliban officials.
Violence flared in some areas. A French commando was killed by a landmine in the south, while five died in a clash between coalition troops and Taliban forces to the east.
But in most places, illiteracy posed the greater danger to democracy. Voters in Kabul struggled to find their parliamentary candidate on a ballot that was seven pages and almost 400 candidates long.
At a Shia mosque, one woman lingered for more than 30 minutes, causing impatient election officials to urge her to finish.
President Hamid Karzai hailed the vote as historic. "After 30 years of wars, interventions, occupations and misery, today Afghanistan is moving forward, making an economy, making political institutions," he said after casting his vote.
But smaller-than-expected queues suggested a lower turnout than the 70 per cent of last year's presidential poll. Debates erupted outside the booths about Afghanistan's reconstruction.
"I swear to God, nothing has changed since we voted last year," said Khadija Hussein (50) at a mosque in Kabul.
"Yes it has," replied her daughter, Zahra (35). "The price of everything has gone up."
Vote-rigging allegations soured the atmosphere at some stations. Tempers flared at Muhammad Agha, 37km (23 miles) south of Kabul, when polling agents accused some electoral officials of instructing some voters on whom they should vote for. Weary officials retorted they were only assisting illiterate voters.
"Some women cannot even recognise the candidates' photographs. What are we supposed to do?" said Nahida Chaudry.
Fears of a Taliban "spectacular" proved unfounded but the insurgents came close.
On Saturday night, police foiled a plot to blow up a dam in Helmand province; yesterday, a rocket landed inside a UN compound in Kabul, causing one minor injury.
Four years after American-led forces toppled the Taliban, security remains a prime concern.
"We are voting that our country will be quiet again," said Begum, a 70-year-old woman who left her sickbed to vote.
But although 100,000 Afghan and 30,000 foreign soldiers guarded the 6,000 polling stations, confidence was dented in places.
An hour after polling opened in Musahi, a village 19km (12 miles) south of Kabul, only six voters had arrived.
On Friday, the Taliban attacked a police convoy one mile away, killing the commander and three officers, said polling chief Ghulam Farooq.
"The insurgents are paid by Taliban refugees returning from camps in Pakistan. They offer $20,000 to destroy a UN vehicle," he said.
Meanwhile, Saifullah Hashemi waited for a police escort before going to open a second polling station in a remote village an hour's drive away.
"My mother and father told me not to go - they say it is too dangerous. I told them: 'This is my country, I must serve it no matter what the price'," he said.