KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan officials hailed a parliamentary vote yesterday as a success despite low turnout, attacks that killed 14 people and widespread fraud that could undermine the result and test the government’s credibility.
Taliban attacks and attempts at vote-rigging were reported across the country. While there was less violence, attacks were more widespread than during a deeply flawed presidential vote last year and reached into once peaceful areas.
The election was being closely watched in Washington ahead of US President Barack Obama’s planned war strategy review in December, which will likely examine the pace and scale of US troop withdrawals after nine years of war. A flawed poll would also weigh on Obama when his administration faces mid-term Congressional elections in November amid sagging public support for the war, with violence at its worst since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
“As a whole I would rate this election successful,” said Fazl Ahmad Manawi, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) chairman.
Voters appeared hesitant after a series of rocket attacks, beginning with a pre-dawn strike near the main headquarters of NATO-led troops and the US embassy in the capital, Kabul.
The Taliban said on their website after polls closed they had conducted more than 150 attacks, fewer than the 272 blamed on insurgents during last year’s presidential poll. Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak said there had been 305 “enemy actions”.
General David Petraeus, the US and NATO commander in Afghanistan, praised Afghan security forces and voters.
“The people of Afghanistan sent a powerful message today,” Petraeus said in a statement. “The voice of Afghanistan’s future does not belong to the violent extremists and terror networks. It belongs to the people.”
Afghan Interior Minister General Bismillah Khan said three police and 11 civilians were killed, with dozens more wounded. In one of the worst incidents, Taliban gunmen attacked a security post near a polling site in northern Baghlan province.
