orza got 86% to 14%, helmond 86% to 14%. in kabul where we had 33% turnout overall 70% of the voters were male. don't be surprised if in 2009 there's very little female participation. that's a trend in ahan politics which is now well established and dates back to before the serious deterioration in the security situation in most of the country. i think the key point to take away from this is this -- the poshtune belt in the south has been disaffected from the beginning. i think when we look back at this, the poshtune majority in the southern provinces to a lesser extent than the eastern provinces, but certainly in the southern provinces have never bought into the legitimacy of what happened at the end@@@ @ rb isn't really hard to do the math. he had 56% in 2004. we'll assume he held his base and got10% more. where did the 10% more come fro? the 10% that [ inaudible ] him one in2004. marry them together and there's your %. abdul is worth more than just a moment to look at. this is a man renowned for his brutality. even by afg

lindsey hilsum, channel 4 news, helmond. >>> heading now a little north and west to the province known as osurea ghan where australian troops arerying to ensure that voting can take place without incident. it suggests that even if this week's vote goes smoothly, likely to ensure public safety for many years to come. it c sally sara of abc of australia. >> reporter: the people of orgon province are operation for peace but threat of=÷ insurgent attac is never far away. australian forces are being urged to stay in ora gon until security is stabilized. the federal government will have the final say but it will depend on how long it takes for afghan troops to stand on their own. >> it's a real difficult question. i think -- it's up to five years i think we meet in the first place. >> reporter: the commander of the australian task force believes it will be at least five years. >> and i think it could take longer. but clearly, i just couldn't put a time frame on it. yeah, in a nutshell it's going to be the long hall radio and in the short term coalition and afghan force trying to provide secu

considered a turning point as soldiers and dea agents landed in taliban-controlled poppy fields in the helmond what followed was a three-day battle. against the powerful drug lord who provided money and power to the taliban. he and 60 of his men were killed. until recently the u.s. military and cia had ignored and sometis worked with such wide open, flourishing heroin businesses that helped the taliban. >> you've got to try to shut off the fuel. it's all really based on drug money. we shut off all the other primary funds. >> reporter: now any drug trafficker tied to taliban is in the cross hairs of the u.s. military. the report by the senate foreign relations committee says the military does not authorize targeted assassinations away from the battlefield but there are no other restrictions. and with most of the country considered part of the battlefield, especially in the poppy growing areas, the u.s. military has already killed or captured several on the hit list. >> what we realized clearly was was that we weren't going to get out of afghanistan until our military became more actively and mo

operation is moving through this area, backed up by an afghan national army, and with the governor of helmond, is ready to provide services in that area, so people can see that the afghan government and civil society is able to support the local people in that area. it will lead to thousands of people in the elections being able to vote freely and fairly without intimidation, because the polling stations will be able to be placed in that area where they could not do so now. this is part of our operation and part of the wider operation being done by the americans in the region. it is part of our determination that these new elections in afghanistan can pass peacefully and freely in a democratic result can be achieved. what are trying to achieve in the -- in afghanistan and pakistan together? our strategy set out in april was a recognition that the terrorist threat that this country faced was in this crucible around the borders of afghanistan and pakistan, that we had to take action in relation to both, but the future lay not simply in military action, but in building of the afghan army and pol

in the northern section of the helmond province, greg palkot. >> we are reporting from the town of dahaneh. it is relatively quiet at this moment. earlier it was very noisy. take a look and take a listen. this mission is called operation eastern results. the aim is to clear the taliban from this town. i can speak from my own experience. from what we saw today, the taliban does not want to go. small arms, mortar fire, and even an ied that had to be defused in front of our vehicles. a lot of close calls today for the marines and maybe even for us. no u.s. casualties today. on the other side, according to the captain on the ground, he says there have been taliban deaths. they have been hit by even stronger weaponry from the u.s. marines, missiles, and it airdropped bomb. the locals have been huddling inside of their homes in this village of two thousand people. we are told that the taliban is victimizing them. we are told they would welcome a change in government, a change in security in this town. we will save. in the meantime, there's trouble all around. the bad guys are nearby and the figh

s, in helmond, in kandahar. but unfortunately they were unable for the most part to get anywhere near the election centers. they could provide a peripheral security. but it was considered too dangerous and possibly even viewed as interventionary if they had been any closer. so we didn't get to see that. there is a direct relationship is what i'm suggesting between the security of the area in which the polling is taking place and the possibility for fraud. i might also add that even in the viewing of the balloting we have to appreciate the fact that most eggregious kinds of violations don't occur while the balloting itself is taking place. yes, you may see the kind of what is often referred to as retail fraud where perhaps someone has voted twice, did not get ink on their fingers as they should have had in order to keep them from multiple voting and so on. but these are not the kinds of violations which determine the outcome. the kind that determine are the stuffing of ballot boxes. they are the manipulation of t