Afghans vote despite rain, Taliban threats

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-afghanistan-braves-rain-and-violence-to-vote-in-election-to-replace-karzai-20140405,0,220296.story



Afghan men line up to vote at a polling station in Lashkargah, capital of Helmand province.

Afghans vote despite rain, Taliban threats
By Shashank Bengali
April 5, 2014, 5:44 a.m.

MAIDAN SHAHR, Afghanistan – For weeks, the Taliban circulated threats in Sher Agha's rural district that anyone who participated in Saturday's election in Afghanistan would be punished or killed.

So the night before the vote, the 52-year-old farmer drove a half-hour to this quiet provincial capital where government security forces patrol the streets. Early Saturday morning, draped in a mustard shawl to ward off the chill and spitting rain, he cast his ballot in a pivotal election that will determine Afghanistan's next president and could reshape its relations with the United States.

"People should be proud to vote," Sher Agha said outside the provincial government compound that was serving as Maidan Shahr’s main polling center. "But where I live, people are afraid they might be killed if they vote."

Staring down security threats and memories of voter fraud, Afghans trekked through deserted streets and rain-swept fields to polling places across the country to select a successor to President Hamid Karzai in an election that features three well regarded front-runners, none of whom were expected to gain the absolute majority needed to win.