Millions vote in Afghanistan despite terror

Afghanistan wrapped up a two-day parliamentary vote on Sunday marred by delays and extremist attacks that killed more than 50 people. Officials said 4 million out of 8.8 million Afghans registered to vote turned out over the weekend at more than 4,000 polling stations. Preliminary results for the 249-member lower house of Parliament will likely come out next month, with final results due in December. In the months leading up to the vote, the Taliban and Islamic State (ISIS) conducted near-daily attacks against candidates and campaign rallies to keep people from voting. At least seven parliamentary candidates were killed in separate attacks. “Afghans did not only show their enemies that they would not surrender to any threats or warnings but that they also have the power and will to defeat their enemies,” Afghan President Ashraf Ghani said in a televised address after the vote.

More than 200 attacks over the weekend targeted polling stations and people on their way to vote. In the northern Balkh province, insurgents opened fire on four men heading to a polling station. On Saturday, a suicide bomber killed three people and injured six others when he set off his explosives in front of a polling station in northern Kabul. Authorities also battled chaos due to technical issues. The majority of those trained to operate a new biometric voting system did not show up over the weekend, causing long lines.

Voters in Kandahar province will go to the polls next week after a shooting at a security meeting delayed the election there. The attack in the provincial governor’s compound killed two senior Afghan officials and wounded three Americans, including Army Brig. Gen. Jeffery Smiley. Gen. Scott Miller, commander of the U.S. and NATO troops, escaped unhurt.