Afghans vote in election clouded by Taliban and fraud fears

[World News]

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Afghans head to the polls on Saturday to vote in a second-round presidential election under the threat of Taliban attack, as US-led combat troops wind down a 13-year war that has failed to defeat the insurgents. The run-off election will decide whether former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah or ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani leads the country into a new era with declining international military and civilian assistance. President Hamid Karzai is due to step down after ruling the country since 2001, when a US-led offensive ousted the austere Taliban regime for sheltering Al-Qaeda militants behind the 9/11 attacks. Afghan officials and international allies are hoping for a repeat of the successful first-round vote in April, when the insurgents failed to launch a single high-profile attack and voter turnout was more than 50 percent.

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