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Violence across Afghanistan has marked voting today with the Taliban setting off attacks across the country earlier this week through today. Bloomberg is reporting that “Taliban attacks forced as many as 11 percent of polling stations …to close.” Voter turnout was high in some parts of the north, controlled by militia commander Abdul Rashid Dostum, who just returned to the country at the invitation of incumbent president Hamid Karzai. But in the southern parts of the country where Karzai was counting on his Pashtun supporters to turn out, voter turnout appears to have been low, due in part to the threats of violence. In recent days the Taliban have issued warnings that they would cut off the ink-stained fingers of those who vote. Meanwhile the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan has reported widespread vote fraud for the past several months including the sale and exchange of voter cards, and the manufacture of thousands of counterfeit cards. Additionally, millions of cards may have been issued to minors including children as young as 12. An initial result is expected within 48 hours as counting has just commenced. But the formal vote tally, to be done by the Karzai-controlled Independent Electoral Commission, will be released on September 17th. If no candidate wins at least 51 percent of the vote, a run-off will take place in October.

GUESTS: Rachel Reed, Human Rights Watch Representative in Kabul, Robert Baer, former CIA operator and author of several books including The Devil We Know: Dealing with the New Iranian Superpower

For more information, visit www.rethinkafghanistan.com.