Polls close in Afghan presidential election

Afghan polling stations close following a massive turnout as the country votes in the third presidential election since the 2001 US-led invasion.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) says vote counting has begun in several provinces.

Partial results are expected as soon as Sunday while final results are expected in mid-May.

The election was held amid tight security in 6,000 polling stations across Afghanistan, with eight candidates running for president.

Some 15 million Afghans were eligible to vote.

President Hamid Karzai has also cast his ballot in the presidential and provincial council elections. Government officials and presidential contenders cast their ballots in the early hours of voting.

Ten candidates are running for the presidential vote in which a successor to President Karzai will be chosen. Among the eight candidates running for president, former Afghan foreign ministers, Abdullah Abdullah and Zalmai Rassoul, and former finance minister, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, are thought to receive the most votes.

Taliban militants had pledged to disrupt the balloting, warning the people against voting.

There have been several incidents of violence in the south and east, including rocket attacks in Kandahar Province which were launched from neighboring Pakistan.

Three polling stations have also come under Taliban attack in Parwan Province. Meanwhile, clashes are ongoing between government troops and militants in Kunar near Pakistan’s border.

The elections come ahead of the planned 2014 withdrawal of US-led foreign troops from Afghanistan.

Violence continues to plague Afghanistan despite the presence of thousands of foreign forces, more than 12 years after the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.