Obama praises Afghans for voting

Election officials have said ballot counting is over

US President Barack Obama has called the Afghan presidential election an important step forward but warned there might be violence to come.

Mr Obama praised millions of Afghans for coming out to vote in the face of intimidation from the Taliban.

Both leading contenders in the election - incumbent Hamid Karzai and ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah - have claimed victory.

Partial, preliminary results are expected on Tuesday.

Final results are due to be released at the beginning of September.

Election officials have estimated turnout at between 40 and 50% which, if confirmed, would be well down on the 70% who turned out to vote in the first presidential election, in 2004.

Our goal is clear - to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda and their extremist allies Barack Obama

Observers have hailed this election as a success after voting passed off relatively peacefully amid threats of Taliban attacks.

In a sign of continuing violence, two policemen were killed in a suicide attack on a police station in Jalalabad, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The UK government also announced the deaths of two British soldiers, killed by an explosion while on routine foot patrol in Helmand province.

The deaths happened on Thursday but were not connected to the election, officials said.

Voters praised

COUNTING THE VOTES Counting began after polls closed at 1700 local time on Thursday Votes counted by hand at each of the 6,200 polling stations Polling stations are required to post their results immediately, to prevent fraud Candidates' representatives are also given immediate access to results The counting appeared to be completed by Friday lunchtime, with official returns due over the weekend Regional media split on Afghan poll Two UK soldiers killed in Helmand Polling day experiences

"Over the last few days and particularly yesterday we've seen acts of violence and intimidation by the Taliban and there may be more in the days to come," Mr Obama said.

"We knew that the Taliban would try to derail this election.

"Yet even in the face of this brutality, millions of Afghans exercised the right to choose their leaders and determine their own destiny."

The US leader commended voters' "courage" and "dignity".

America, he added, would work with Afghanistan "to strengthen Afghan security, governance and opportunity".

"Our goal is clear - to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaeda and their extremist allies," he said.

Fraud allegations

The vast majority of polling stations were able to function in Thursday's election, the UN says.

However, Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) reports that 11 people were killed in insurgent attacks while trying to organise the election.

Allegations of ballot box tampering and block voting are also threatening to overshadow the result.

Mr Abdullah told the BBC he had complained to the electoral commission about alleged voting irregularities by supporters of Mr Karzai in the southern province of Kandahar.

Mr Karzai has not commented on the claims.

Election officials say they have asked the campaign teams to stay calm and refrain from speculating on the results.

Pre-election opinion polls suggested Hamid Karzai was leading the field of 30 candidates but might face a run-off with Mr Abdullah.

If neither candidate wins an outright majority of 50%, then the vote is expected to go to a second round in October.