Afghan Election Called a Success Despite Attacks

Afghans lined up to vote in Kabul. Tyler Hicks/The New York Times

Afghan Election Called a Success Despite Attacks -- New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — Scattered rocket attacks and Taliban intimidation suppressed turnout in Afghanistan’s presidential election Thursday. But enough voters cast ballots that Afghan officials said they had thwarted efforts by the insurgents to derail the vote.

The election is the second in the nearly eight years since an American-led invasion ousted the Taliban, but the security situation in the country has deteriorated so sharply, and the credibility of the Afghan leadership has sunk so low, that the ability of the government to hold the election at all was in doubt.

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