KABUL, (Reuters) – Millions of Afghans went to the  polls yesterday, defying Taliban threats of violence and  sporadic attacks to choose a president in the midst of a  worsening war.

“The Afghan people dared rockets, bombs and intimidation  and came out to vote,” President Hamid Karzai told a news  conference after polls closed. “We’ll see what the turnout was. But they came out to vote.  That’s great, that’s great.”

Preliminary results are not due for two weeks, although  polling stations could begin to report sooner.

The Afghan government said nine civilians and 14 members of  the security forces were killed in a total of 135 incidents  countrywide on polling day.

Rockets fell on towns, especially in the south and east,  and two gunmen wearing suicide vests were killed in a gunbattle  in Kabul, but the Taliban failed to mount a single spectacular  strike that could threaten the poll itself.

Violence in the morning tapered off as the day went on. “Overall, the security situation has been better than we  feared. That is certainly the most positive aspect of these  elections,” said Kai Eide, head of the U.N. mission in Kabul.

“The security situation has, in general, allowed people to  take part in the elections,” he said.

Pre-election polls showed Karzai, in power since 2001, is  likely to win but not by enough to avoid a run-off against his  main challenger, his former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah,  who ran a surprisingly energetic campaign.

If Karzai fails to win more than 50 percent of the vote he  will face a run-off in October, most likely against Abdullah.

The election is in large measure a referendum on Karzai, a  master coalition builder who is personally liked by most  Afghans but also widely blamed for running a government that is  corrupt, ineffective and entirely dependent on international  aid.

The president relied for votes on the endorsements of many  of the country’s notorious former militia chiefs, raising alarm  among his Western backers that the cost of a victory in the  election could be a return of warlords to power.

The election was also a test for U.S. President Barack  Obama, who has ordered a massive troop build-up this year as  part of a strategy to reverse Taliban gains. U.S. officials  were clearly relieved that election-day violence had not been  worse.

“Lots of people have defied threats of violence and terror  to express their thoughts about the next government for the  people of Afghanistan,” White House spokesman Robert Gibbs  said. Obama’s envoy for the region, Richard Holbrooke, toured  polling stations in Kabul. “So far every prediction of disaster  turned out to be wrong,” Holbrooke said.

Election commission head Azizullah Ludin said 6,192 polling  stations had opened, 94 percent of the number planned. Polls  were kept open an extra hour because some stations had  temporarily shut for security reasons during the day.

Taliban militants had repeatedly vowed to disrupt the poll.  The head of the National Directorate of Security, Amrullah  Saleh, said authorities thwarted plans by the fighters to  attack a hotel in Kabul and a government ministry.

“The Afghan people are used to living under the worst  circumstances of insecurity and fighting, why should they be  afraid to come out and vote?” said Sayed Mustafa, a Kabul  student, showing an ink-stained finger that proved he had  voted.

Still, questions remain over turnout in the south, the most  violent part of the country and the site of many of the polling  day attacks. Karzai draws much of his own support from the  south, and low turn-out there could increase the chance of a  run-off.

U.N. officials described turnout as robust in the north but  weaker in the south, although they saw signs that turnout there  picked up there during the day as violence eased.

In Karzai’s southern home city of Kandahar, one of the  areas that took the brunt of Taliban attacks yesterday  morning, a Reuters correspondent saw queues of voters at the  end of the polling day after a tentative start.

The president’s half brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, Kandahar’s  provincial council chief, told Reuters people had turned out in  the city in spite of threats.

“A rocket landed close to my house, killing a little boy  and injuring his mother seriously,” he said by telephone. “But  despite all these warnings, people don’t listen to the Taliban.  Kandahar people are used to war.”