In pictures: Afghanistan votes

1 of 8 Afghan refugee Moqadasa Sidiqi, 19, creates history, being the first person to vote in Afghanistan's first presidential election. She voted in Pakistan.

2 of 8 Jubilant supporters of interim President Hamid Karzai after voting in Kabul.

3 of 8 Indelible ink on a voter's thumbnail - or is it? Opposition candidates allege fraud, saying the ink can be easily washed off. They say they are boycotting the result.

4 of 8 An election official applies the ink - they admit that in some cases the wrong type of pen was used.

5 of 8 In the former heartland of the Taleban, Kandahar, a women is frisked by security officials before voting.

6 of 8 Although huge numbers of women registered to vote, women's issues were not given much coverage in the campaign.

7 of 8 Warlord General Dostum cast his vote in his home village, near Mazar-e-Sharif in the north of the country, before he was reported to have joined the boycott.

8 of 8 Hundreds of thousands of refugee voters were also eligible to take part in neighbouring Iran.