Afghans delighted to have the right to vote

Many were surprisingly open about how they voted in the country's first-ever direct elections after decades of strife, despite threats from militants opposed to the vote.

Of 75 people in queues at Kabul polling stations, 41 happily told an AFP reporter who their choice was for president -- although one dropped his voice to a conspiratorial whisper.

Thirty said they would vote for US-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai, while 11 plumped for his main rival, former education minister Yunus Qanooni and 34 kept their choice secret.

In other major centres, from Kandahar in the south to Herat in the east and Sherbergan in the north, voters spoke to AFP reporters without reserve before 14 of the 18 candidates called for the election to be halted.

In the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, jubilation reigned as thousands of voters, huddled against the early morning autumn chill, streamed into polling stations.

"I am so happy, it's like a dream. I feel that we are finally human," said Zahooba, a toothless woman of 65 who walked half an hour on shaky legs to the polling station to cast her vote for President Hamid Karzai, a Kandahar native.

Rahgul, a 45-year-old matriarch came with 11 women from her family to cast her vote for Hamid Karzai.

"Our father said we should come early and vote. We are so happy," she said, adding that the men in her family were also voting for Karzai.