By Matt Wilson

Chattanooga Times Free Press, Tenn.

(MCT)

Aug. 21–On a conference call from just over the border in Pakistan, U.S. Sen. Bob Corker said he was quite impressed with what he saw of Thursday’s elections in Afghanistan.

“It was very orderly,” said Sen. Corker, R-Tenn. “Security seemed to be better than anticipated.”

The former Chattanooga mayor said he had been in the city of Herat, Afghanistan, for the past 24 hours and had spent the previous day in the capital city of Kabul. He said he had visited 45 polling stations at seven polling centers.

“To see the lines of people that began forming this morning at 4:30 a.m., pretty remarkable,” Sen. Corker said.

According to The Associated Press, 26 Afghans were killed Thursday in insurgent attacks scattered throughout the country, attacks that leaders say were meant to disrupt the elections. But officials said voters were not deterred, as nearly half of the country’s registered voters cast ballots.

More than 40 candidates are running in the country’s presidential election.

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga political science professor Bob Swansbrough said the Afghan election may not mark a turning point in the country in terms of stability, but will at least demonstrate democracy “in a turbulent environment.”

“I don’t think it’s going to have much to do with the impact of the strength of the Taliban,” Dr. Swansbrough said.

Sen. Corker said he also met with U.S. military leaders as well as an Afghan provincial leader during his visit. He said he discussed women’s issues with a provincial governor and female community leaders.

After 10 hours of voting, including a last-minute, one-hour extension, election workers began to count millions of ballots. Initial results weren’t expected for several days.

A top election official told AP he thinks 40 to 50 percent of the country’s 15 million registered voters cast ballots — a turnout that would be far lower than the 70 percent who cast ballots for president in 2004.

Low turnout in the south would harm President Hamid Karzai’s re-election chances and boost the standing of his top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah. Turnout in the north appeared to be stronger, a good sign for Abdullah.

International officials have predicted an imperfect election — Afghanistan’s second-ever direct presidential vote — but expressed hope that Afghans would accept it as legitimate, a key component of President Barack Obama’s war strategy. Taliban militants, though, pledged to disrupt the vote and circulated threats that those who cast ballots would be punished.

A voting official in Kandahar, the south’s largest city and the Taliban’s spiritual birthplace, said voting appeared to be 40 percent lower than 2004. The official asked not to be identified because he wasn’t authorized to release turnout figures. AP journalists reported low turnouts in Kabul compared with longer lines seen in the 2004 vote.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

WHAT’S NEXT:

Sen. Corker said he should be back in Tennessee by Monday to hold town hall meetings regarding health insurance reform.

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