Accessibility links

Breaking News
Afghan election officials count ballot papers after polls closed in Kabul on June 14.
Afghan election officials count ballot papers after polls closed in Kabul on June 14.

Live Blog: Election Day In Afghanistan

Latest News

-- The vote count continues, as does the investigation into hundreds of claims of vote fraud. Final preliminary results are expected on July 2, and final results on July 22.

-- Many media refrained from reporting violence during the vote, but officials said June 15 that more than 270 Taliban attacks were recorded, resulting in the deaths of 50 civilians.

-- In one attack, a roadside bomb exploded beside a minibus that was carrying Afghan election workers home, killing 10 adults and a child.

-- Taliban militants severed the voting fingers of 11 voters in Herat Province.

-- The Independent Electoral Commission initially said that there were signs that voter turnout exceeded 7 million, putting it roughly on par with the first-round vote in April.

-- Officials said that, of those who turned out, 38 percent were women and 62 percent were men.

* NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kabul
08:40 13.6.2014
08:31 13.6.2014
Afghan Forces On Alert

190,000 Afghan National Army (ANA) soldiers have been deployed across the country, joining tens of thousands of national police, local police, village protection forces, and cadets. In total, there will around 400,000 Afghan security personnel out on election day.

That was the same number of security personnel used in the first round. It was the biggest security operation in Afghanistan since the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. Foreign combat troops will again take a back seat tomorrow and assist with intelligence and logistics.
08:13 13.6.2014
Unenviable Job

Whoever becomes the new president will have a monumental task on his hands. Chief among the new president's concerns will the shrinking economy.

"Foreign Policy" magazine lists the challenges facing the new president:

"The latest Western retreat from Afghanistan has already left an ignominious legacy for the new president who will take over from Hamid Karzai in the country's first democratic transition of power. An election process marred by violence will culminate in the inauguration of a national leader who inherits a shrinking economy and an escalating insurgency, as sovereignty returns to Afghanistan after more than a decade of foreign occupation. A military economy worth hundreds of billions of dollars propped up Karzai's government for more than a decade, and directly supported almost half the population; much of it has already evaporated."
07:57 13.6.2014
Shuja Rabbani, the son of the late Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former president of Afghanistan.
07:42 13.6.2014
Abdullah's Little-Known First Vice President Running Mate

Ashraf Ghani's second vice-president running mate -- the notorious former Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum -- has attracted most of the headlines. But the Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), a Kabul think tank, points out that little has been heard from or even written about Abdullah's first vice-president running mate, Mohammad Khan.

What we know is that Khan is a senior member of the Hezb-e-Islami militant group and was a former lawmaker. But as AAN notes, Khan's official campaign biography skips over huge chunks of his life.

AAN's Kate Clark interviews Khan to fill in the gaps and provide insight into the background of the man who could be Afghanistan's next first vice-president.
07:31 13.6.2014
Afghanistan's Interior Minister:
07:17 13.6.2014
Security Tightened Around Kabul

Afghan security forces manning checkpoints at nearly every intersection in Kabul, searching cars and drivers in a massive security operation ahead of Saturday's election.

The Taliban issued a new statement this week warning voters to stay away from the polls. "The Islamic Emirate deems it necessary to alert the people and warn them for the last time that they should not participate in this American process, deliberately or inadvertently."
07:07 13.6.2014
06:58 13.6.2014
EU Election Monitors

The European Union has sent a delegation of 66 observers to monitor tomorrow's runoff election. They will be stationed at polling centers in the provinces of Kabul, Balkh, and Herat. The delegation will remain in Afghanistan until the announcement of the final results.

06:39 13.6.2014
All Quiet On The Kabul Front

Load more

XS
SM
MD
LG