the capital of kabul. we have seen a lot of violence throughout the country, but the security here in the capital has been fairly tight but today five days a s away from the electione saw the militants, the insurgents can infiltrate the city's capital five days away from the afghanistan presidential elections. natalie? >> atia, it's hard to decipher exactly where this explosion occurred from the pictures we are getting. it appears to be the smoke coming up from a street location. is that the best you can tell from your vantage point? >> reporter: well, what i can tell you from the past with suicide bombings in kabul, if it is a car bombing, we still aren't sure if it is or not. when it comes do car bombings, suicide bombers they, themselves, get nervous. if they get stopped or near a coalition force or any kind of international -- maybe an njo, a u.n. car, even, they target them, they explode. they blow themselves up hoping to cause some casualties. in the end, what they do is they do cause casualties but

and kabul will likely shut down for the next two days. until this month, kabul felt quite safe. foreign aid workers would move freely around the city. but the worst fears have been realized this week. most workers have left the city. and those who are still here, are being told to stay inside. security fears are even larger outside of kabul. this is about two hours north of the city, safe enough to deliver ballot boxes by donkey. all over the country, these election workers are targets. in northern afghanistan, a group of them were attacked and killed. for u.s. troops, this country is also more violent than ever. two more soldiers were killed and three wounded in an attack in eastern afghanistan. as president obama said monday, leading democracy to this country will not be quick or easy. it's not only the foreign ngo workers that are staying inside their homes. the people who run the car dealerships have actually taken off all the new tires of all their cars and hid them, knowing there will be violence, not only up to election day and on election day, but mostly in the days that

anand gopal is a reporter for "the wall street journal" based kabul. >> reporter: the mood in kabul was very tense. there's been a lot of attacks in recent weeks and even today in kabul, there were a number of attacks across the city. and the streets are mostly deserted. there's a lot of police checkpoints. stores were closed. and, therefore, we saw low numbers going to the polls than we would see otherwise. the primary reason for the low turnout is because of the security situation. basically, half the country the government has very little controls, extremely violent, the taliban has a lot of sway. they targeted a number of polling places, for example, a province in neighboring kabul last night, they burned down polling centers. today they rocketed a bunch of polling centers. today in kabul they dispatched suicide bombers to attack the centers. so people mostly wanted to avoid that and they wanted to stay away on election day. because low turnout is all in those areas which would normally support karzai, because they are all posthumes. if they don't turn out to vote, it may give a boo

anand gopal is a reporter for "t wall street journal" based in kabul. >> reporter: the mood i kabul was very tense. ere's been a lot o attacks in cent weeks and even today in kabul,here were a numr of attacks across the city. and the streets are mostly deserted. there's a lot of police eckpoints. storesere closed. and, therefe, we saw low mbersoing to the pollshan we would seeotherwise. the primary reaso for theow turnt is because of the security situation. basically, half the country the governme has very little contls, extremely violen the taliban has a lot of sway. they artargeted a numb of pollg places, foexample, a province in neighboring kabul lastight, they burnedown polling cents. today they rocted a bunch of lling centers. toy in kabul they dispatched suicide bombers to aack the centers. so people mostly wted to avoid thatnd they wand to stay away onlection day. because lowturnout isll in the areas which would normally support karzai, because they are all posthumes. if they don turn t to vote, it mayive a ost to his rivals. it may give enough of a ost buhelp narrow the gap and

there's some concern you can travel around the streets of kabul with no problem.e routine traffic jams every day. there was no lockdown right now. that may change on election day, but, you know, to be honest with you, you know, on a surface level, the security in kabul doesn't look a great deal different than it does on any other trip being here. >> the attack comes five days before the afghan presidential election. u.s. troops will be trying to provide security throughout the country for thursday's election. now, president obama is calling that election the most important event in afghanistan all year. >>> rescuers in taiwan are trying to reach more than 1,300 people who are trapped following last weekend's devastating typhoon. typhoon mora knocked out more than 100 inches of rain in the country, causing mud slides and washing out bridges completely. now, the situation is worse in the remote southern part of the island which saw its worst flooding in 50 years. authorities in taiwan are blaming the storm for the death of 121 people. >> i'm reynolds wolf with a loo

be in kabul during the time of this explosion. peter, thanks. we'll talk with you again. since it is the top of the hour, we want to bring viewers who might be joining us up to speed on the news out of kabul, afghanistan. one hour ago, an explosion oc r occurred on the streets of the capital. defense ministry spokesman tells the associated press this was a suicide car bombing. the attack happened, we do know this, near the headquarters of nato and the u.s. embassy. we have seen video of the smoke. here's the street scene of what occurred just after the explosion. we have also received video into cnn of people who were injured and people being administered health care by rescue teams there on the scene. and so we'll continue to get more information about what happened, how many were injured, was anybody killed? we have on the street for us, as well, atia abawi of our team there in afghanistan. she joins us with the latest. atia? >> reporter: natalie, we're still waiting on more information. we can tell you a little bit past 8:30 a.

the attacks and three small bombings in kabul this morning had a chilling effect. in kabul, voters just trickled in to schools and mosques to cast ballots and dip their fingers in ink. men on one side and women in segregated areas. threats of violence from the taliban seemed to have kept many people away. today the taliban vowed to hunt down those that voted. if we find anyone with ink on their fingers we will cut it off, said this taliban commander. as they cast ballots today the leading presidential candidate, abdullah abdul a a president hamid karzai, called on afghans to defy the threat. >> come out and vote. so that through their vote afghanistan can be a most secure

kabul in 2003 is very different from the kabul of today. since the invasion, since our emphasis on iraq or afghanistan, the streets are not as safe to walk around on. but at that time in 2003, it was very easy to wander around, very easy to interact with locals. but that has changed. so i'm going to read a little bit more. can everybody hear me? just a couple of more minutes, then questions. this is my thoughts as i'm waiting to go to the party. i had many reasons for coming to afghanistan. after september 11th, i was able to help in the cleanup of ground zero. digging in the rubble a few days after, i swore i would see afghanistan to better understand what happened. as a new yorker, i'm believe we are linked to kabul, both created by us and other nations and what it does to the world to bring peace. unfortunately, few in washington share that view. beyond this from a gay perspective, i was constantly reading articles hinting at afghanistan hom sexuality. they mentioned farmers who greeted soldiers with offers of sex. details magazine discu

. -- kabul with jobs. the afghan police and army camps around a small group of taliban insurgents, who they believe are getting ready to stage an attack. the big security operation in a cool -- in kabul has been remarkably successful. the battle ended with the deaths of two insurgents. there was a block down in kabul itself, and the streets were largely empty -- there was no locked down -- a lockdown. while all of this was going on, president karzai was there. there is been a lot of dissatisfaction with is lack of achievement and with the growing corruption here. we drove south out of kabul, through the frequent checkpoints, in an area where there had been a lot of violence in the past, but when we stopped, we found it entirely peaceful. the main trouble was that the turnout was low. here, people were showing up in a reasonably large numbers. they may not have much time for their politicians, and they are sick of all of the corruption, but they still have a strong belief that casting their vote really matt

the checkpoints are set up all over kabul. the city's police chief says his men are up to the task. >> we are expecting problems, he tells me, but we expect to deal with it all. >> unlike in past elections here, the u.s. military and international troops will play a support role ready to act if needed. last weekend's suicide blast just outside of the gates were a reminder that even the best security can't stop all terrorists. >> a very determined suicide bomber is extremely hard to prevent. >> it's not just kabul that is being targeted, as ballot boxes are shipped out on the vote, 60% of polling stations, especially in a taliban-dominated south, might not open. militants are threatening to cut off fingers to get to voting booths. still, the government remains undaunted. >> it will definitely go forward. we will definitely have elections in the country. >> kabul's cops and soldiers are trying to ensure just that. in kabul, afghanistan, greg palkot, fox news. bret: former republican presidential candidate john mccain is pushing

a business woman from kabul reflskepticism of afghan's elite. "a fair and transparent election even if one were possible would not be enough to set afghan toward stability. most educated afghans will not vote because they believe there is no candidate worth voting for. the candidates say they will fix roads or create jobs, but how? talk is cheap." another, a former aide worker writes about pessimism in his hometown. "demoralization and despair have reached such a level in kandahar," he says, "most people tell me they will not participate in thursday's presidential election." "one reason," he writes, "is because people are disbelieving that president hamid karzai's corrupt cabinet will allow another cab note win. another reason, he says, is that people are rightly fearing that the taliban would punish them." not all were downbeat though. a businessman north of kabul says that he's found no one who said that the elections had no value to them. i feel that the real means of democracy are slowly taking route in our country, and that we may be able t

low turnout in southern afghanistan and kabul could hurt the front-runner, president hamid karzai. they're his base of support. karzai is relying on voters like nebi, a 35-year-old day laborer. in his one room home in kabul he said he is willing to defy the threats for his children. >> translator: i'm voting for the peace and stability of my country he said. >> reporter: but when nebi arrived at the center he was the only one voting. turnout was high in the relatively safe north and west of afghanistan. here many back karzai's main rival, foreign minister abdullah, abdullah. high turnout improves chances of forcing karzai into a run-off election this fall. as ballots were being counted tonight it seems violence and intimidation didn't stop the vote but may have inadvertently guaranteed another election. both karzai and abdullah called today's election "imperfect but nonetheless successful." initial results could come as early as saturday. ann. >>> richard engel in afghanistan. thank you so much. >>> senator edward kennedy has been battling cancer for more than a year now. but there

first, today's violence in kabul. >> the latest incident occurred on a main road in the east of kabul. the route is often used by international troops. an initial reports indicated this was a suicide car bomb attack. earlier in the morning, deborah extra security checks in kabul after rockets were fired into the center of the city. one mortar bomb landed near the center of the palace. this man says there's no security. people are very scared because the election is about to happen. after the final burst of campaigning, president hamid karzai still looks to be the front-runner. does he demand enough support to avoid going to a second round? he now has the backing of the former warlord. he returned from exile in turkey to endorse the president's election effort. the former foreign minister has added his energy to this high octane campaign. there's still a climate of uncertainty and mounting violence with the taliban threatened anyone who takes part in these elections. >> i am now joined on the line by the spokesman for the united nations assistance mission in afghanistan. what is your r

jim sciutto, abc news, kabul. >>> couple of noefts about the weather tonight. hurricane bill has weakened a bill, but as this video take from the international space station shows, it's a sprawling storm. peak winds are 120 miles an hour. it is expected to pass west of bermuda this weekend kicking up surf along the u.s. eastern seaboard. >>> and residents if five mid western states face a mess as storms tore through the region. tornadoes were confirmed in iowa and minnesota, and twisters were reported in iowa wisconsin, illinois and indiana. >>> still ahead, the government announces when the cash for clunkers will end. not much time left. >>> the powerful drug suspected in michael jackson's death. you might be surprised who is amusing it. that will be our "closer look." >>> and the man who retires tonight after baking a billion twinkies. . (announcer) there are engines... and then there's the twin-turbocharging 365-horsepower-generating, ecoboost™ engine in the all-new ford taurus sho that has the thirst of a v6 with the thrust of a v8. we speak car. we speak i

of kabul, one of the poorest parts of the entire city. there is no running water. no sanitation. just sinking piles of rubbish. -- sinking piles of rubbish. i came back to meet someone i first met years ago. he sells vegetables. since i saw him last, half a dozen of the world's richest nations have poured out huge amounts of cash and hundreds of soldiers lives in afghanistan. he has a huge family -- 12 children. they all live together in this one room. the others are out, either at school or the market. has anything improved in his family's life? he says nothing at all. our lives are just as hard as ever. the poverty here is as bad as anything anywhere on earth. yet, the cost of keeping a single british or american soldier in afghanistan would completely change the lives of everyone here. but you know it is not want to happen because this system is too corrupt. it simply would not get through. it is dangerous for afghans to point out these home truths. we are going to a secret location to meet a woman who has been in hiding after speaking

military says the background is in kabul. chris morris, bbc news, kabul. >> a suicide bomber has destroyed a pakistani checkpoint on the border with afghanistan. at least 22 people died. police say the bomber approached on foot at sunset. he approached as the guards were celebrating the end of the ramadan fast. there has been of a train accident in northwest turkey killing passengers and injuring others. it derailed in istanbul. russia has charged eight men with kidnapping. this is over the apparent hijacking of the cargo ship last month. the arctic sea disappeared, only to reappear on the west african coast three weeks later. there is suspicion it was carrying an illicit cargo. german's chancellor is calling for a freeze on israel's the building of settlements. angela merkel was speaking to the israeli prime minister, benjamin netanyahu. they also discussed iraq. netanyahu called for sanctions. we have this report from berlin. >> netanyahu came to berlin with a clear message for angela merkel. he said that it was time to get

bbc news, kabul. >> pakistanis are celebrating against a backdrop of economic hardship and increasedaliban. from the bbc, a report from islamabad. >> pakistan at 62, a nation in need of peace, security, and an economic miracle. on the back streets, and they are weary of poverty, of rushing for water and electricity is on. this independence day does nothing to celebrate, to this man, in business here for more than 30 years. >> i have never seen things so bad. we sat idle all day with no customers. inflation is breaking everyone's back. -- we sit idle. >> but there is a sense of progress. some feel safer on the street since the government took on the taliban in earnest. >> it has made a difference. there is no denying that. >> she lost her brother-in-law to a suicide bomber. she says pakistanis can now breathe easier. >> even for your morale, you feel good. youç feel as if,ç yes, you arn control now. whether you are or are not, that is a separate issue. >> but that is the big unknown. have they been seriously weakened? they believe the leader was killed last week and warned that al q

i'm sitting on a shell of a soviet tank on a hill overlooking kabul. here. this is where so much of it began. this battle with the soviets and the mujahadin, control of afghanistan. the local warlords rising up, backed by pakistan, backed with money from the united states, from saudi arabia. fighting the soviets to drive the soviets out. the soviets leaving as a vacuum. warlords turn on each other. who enters the fray? the taliban. it's easy to argue that that's when 9/11 and a lot of other problems in the region were born. when america simply walked away once the votes withdraw. don't forget, there was a war under way in afghanistan at the time of 9/11. they were front lined active at that moment as the taliban were fighting other afghans. 9/11 obviously changed everything. the reason why the west is there is to answer a security threat being paved by the al qaeda organization in exporting terrorist attacks from its planning and strategic bases in afghanistan and in the tribal areas of pakistan. >> afghanistan has always been a country where it's a battlegr

we were given a p off these voting cards were being sold in kabul. and afghan worki for the bbc travel to a ller's house. th is an example of what the ller has on offer. these are real voti cards used by ople on election day cast their choice f the next president of afgnistan. we were told that they were asking $10 or $15 for each card. the seller had 1000 on offer and e were plenty more where the ca from. thes votes -- these cards will be apped for votes on election day. we havenow returned them, and no money has changed hands. thesepictures were pssed to us by an election monitoring group. the ow multiple votingards being giveout to the same person. d they show how children were able to gethem. the group ys the officials who did this will be in charge on election day. >> ths the card distribution kn about. i am surthere is dtribution we do t know about. we had enough cards to contact authorities, t not to prevent this. >> there may be more than one. butf you can prove that [unintelligible] no one can move this in two or three days. >> it is a timel

they need help from their own government in kabul.ut the president is here, at least in spirit. >> a very good. very good. this is an advantage. >> yes, this is not the right thing. [unintelligible] >> here you go. >> these are the moments that these military commanders and the governor cherish. they believe they are making a difference in afghanistan. the real point is to convince all the other people that this is going to make a difference in their lives. bbc news. >> and all this week we will have live coverage on the afghan elections and scenes around afghanistan here on "bbc world news." de a former south korean president has died, at age 85. once he was a dangerous radical, and then he won the nobel peace prize. we have more from south korea. ed >> this was the defining -- this was the defining moment of his remarkable political journey. the inter-korean summit in 2005, the first time the leaders of the north and south had met since the korean war. 20 years earlier, facing charges of treason, he was sentenced to death by this co

a live report from kabul coming your way in two minutes. for fast relief of itchy summer skin get new cortizone 10 cooling relief gel. cools instantly with the strongest itch relief medicine. cortizone 10 cooling relief gel. what do you say to a spin around the color wheel? - to paint with primer already mixed in? - ♪ yeah yeah yeah... - test samples instead of can commitments? - ♪ whoo! - what do you say we dip into our wallets less... - ♪ are you feeling it? - ...and grab ahold of the latest tools out there... - ♪ oh! ...so we can quit all that messing around with extra steps - and get busy turning our doing dials up a notch? - ♪ whoo! ♪ oh! more saving. more doing. - that's the power of the home depot. - ♪ yeah yeah yeah. >> rick: welcome back. tragedy at air show near moscow. who air force jets colliding there and reports indicate one of the pilots was killed. a woman on the ground was seriously injured when one of the jets slammed into a house. several others on the ground injured as well. it's part of the elite russian knight aerobati

>>reporter: this is anjela she is a serial entrepreneur from kabul one of her businesses is a furniturem an ambitious young businesswoman, just 24years old she wants to be afghanistan's answer to richard branson. >>anjela: i have one wish to become in the future as a good businesswoman all the world knows me..because i know i can do it. >>reporter: her husband works for herrare in a country where women hardly step outside their homes or show theirfaces in public her dream would have not been possible few years ago during the taliban era. but today things are different. afghanistan's young female entrepreneurs are hungry for success. anjela is one of sixty afghan womengraduated for the first time this summer from a goldman sachs sponsored school for female entrepreneurs the kabul programme is part of a global 100 million dollar initiative where women in developing countries receive a basic business education the 63 afghan graduates may be a small number by global standards but these women are slowly changing the ageold traditions in one of the world's most conservative countries the cour

they also need help from their own government in kabul.ut the president is here, at least in spirit. [unintelligible] >> a very impressive. >> this is not quite right. >> yes, this is not the right -- [laughter] [unintelligible] >> here you go. >> these are the moments these military commanders and the government cherishes. they are having fun. the believe they are making a difference in afghanistan. the real point is to convince all the other people gathered here that this will make a difference in people's lives. bbc news, afghanistan. >> the north korean leader has paid tribute to the former leader of south korea who has died. he sent notices to the grieving family. our correspondent looks back at kim dae-jung. >> this was the defining moment of kim dae-jung's remarkable political journey -- the injured-kirby and summit in 2000 -- injured-kirby and summit in 2000. -- inter-korean summit. kim dae-jung survived several assassination attempts. his election as south korean president in 1997 marked the first democratic transfer of power to a

he is with us tonight from kabul. richard, good evening. >> reporter: security here is tightening nationwide as u.s. and afghan forces are doing everything they can to try and make this country safe enough to vote next week. [ gunfire ] >> reporter: this is what it takes to prepare afghanistan for elections. a marine assault this morning. 400 u.s. marines and 100 afghan soiers, backed by helicopters and fighter jets, in helmand province in southern afghanistan. the mission to drive the taliban from the town, so locals can vote here next thursday. but the taliban stood and fought. in this militant and opium-struggling stronghold. opium-smuggling stronghold. for eight hours, firing from rooftops and courtyard with mortars, heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. for seven weeks, 10,000 u.s. marines have been trying to take back southern afghanistan, a town at a time. >> by liberating the town, we freed the local populus from the influence of the taliban. but nearly half of afghanistan remains at high risk of a

a business woman from kabul reflect, on the skepticism of afghan's elite.most educated afghans will not vote because they believe there is no candidate worth voting for. the candidates say they will fix roads or create jobs but how? talk is cheap. another, a former aide worker writes about pessimism in his hometown. "demoralization and despair has reached such a level in kandaha tell me they will not participate in thursday's presial election. one reason, he writes, is because people are disbelieving that hamid karzai's corrupt cabinet will allow not win. not all were downbeat though. a businessman from pan. >> valley north of kabul says he's found no one who said that the elections had no value to them. i feel that the real means of democracy are slowly taking route in our country, and that we may be able to achieve a more peaceful and better afghanistan. >>> joining us now for some more perspective on all of the developments in afghanistan as this election approaches is mberly marten, a professor of political science at barnard college columbia university

back to kabul to the center of the country. of course we're joined by the afghan member of parliament. you're dressed in the colors of afghanistan. can i take it you're saying this is a good day however imperfect for your country? >> for sure. to me it's a national day because the afghans they aring to practice and use and enjoy democracy, equal rights for men and women and they are coming to polling stations regardless of what happened yesterday and today, across the country, but still this nation is these people want to pass successfully the democratic exercise. >> you and i were here at the zaguna girls school five years ago when it was an emotional euphoric and the queues went right around the block. seems very different today. >> we can't compare today afghanistan with five years back. we don't have any second number which today we have. today the reads the come from insurgents and self the candidates themselves and today there was a lot of attacks not demonstrations but rumors to be demonstrations which is five years ago,

an attack on kabul's relatively safe diplomatic you quarter. the american embassy wasn't damaged but aft least ten of a gaps were killed. more than 100 injured. many of them were employees at the ministry of transport waiting it go to work. "i don't feel safe here, life has been ruined" said one woman. this man said "i dent foe who i'm going to vote for now" and that's exactly the taliban's strategy. as afghan's today cleaned up glass shattered in the exsploe, it's increasingly clear the taliban wants to rob the election of legitimacy by scaring away potential voters. like dean mohammad. 82 years old, a carpet sell are for 62 year, father of 43 children and grandchildren. "i was sitting there and suddenly there was a huge explosion," he said, "it shook everything around me," but dean mohammad insists he won't be intimidate and will vote to re-elect hamid karzai. despite rising violence and allegation of mass of corruption in his government, president karzai holds a slim lead over his nearest rival, former foreign minister, abdullah abdullah. th

s alex thomson in kabul. ray suarez talked with him earlier this evening. >> suarez: alex thompson in kabul, welcome. the polls have been closed for several hours, the ballot boxes have been opened in many places. give us the latest news from around the country. >> well, the latest news is there will not be any definitive news for a long time. if i tell you that we will probably not know who's going to be the next president of afghanistan until october-- yes, october 15-- it gives you some idea of how long this process could well turn out to be. what i can say is put it this way, around 300 polling stations were closed down because of intimidation but over 6,000 did open up. the taliban will claim some success for that from their side for the 300, but the u.n. and the incumbent president karzai have already claimed it as a great success in terms of the numbers who did turn up and vote >> suarez: has word started to come in from those far-flung polling places about where turnout was high, where it was low and

this is their headquarters in kabul. today they were attacked, this car bomb shook up the city of kabul, shook up our bureau as everyone else in kabul, we went up on our roof and saw smoke bellowing up. when we went to the scene we weren't allowed to get close being but when we spoke to the witnesses there, they told us there is a big crater for where the bomb went off. we later went to the hospital to speak to victims, and they were very shaken up. their families waiting outside also shaken up. we asked them, five days away from the afghan elections, willing they even go out and vote? i spoke to a 21-year-old girl there in the hospital being treated. she told me that today's bomb made her decision for her and she will not go out and vote. when i spoke to her mother and grandmother, they said the same exact theng. they said it's been 30 years now that they haven't had a government that can secure them and they don't think that their vote will even count. betty? >> what is the government saying in light of all this? the e

turnout was low across kabul. this is one of the main voting centers in downtown kabul. but today there's hardly anyone here. in elections five years ago there were lines out the door at this voting center. today no crowds at all. threats of violence from the taliban seem to have kept many people away. today the tal vowed to hunt down those who voted. "if we find anyone with ink on their fingers, we will cut it off," said this taliban commander. >> if it's between going and being killed and not being killed, i don't know, i think i might not come out. >> reporter: but as they cast ballots today, the leading presidential candidates abdullah abdullah and president hamid karzai called on afghans to defy the threat. >> i encourage our people to come out and vote so that through their vote afghanistan can be a more secure, more peaceful, and a better country. >> reporter: and millions did. with long lines in the relatively peaceful north and west. preliminary results are expected on saturday. >> that was richard engel reporting. some experts say the low voter turnout in the s

more now from our chief foreign correspondent richard engel in kabul. >> reporter: in kabul, where many women still hide behind the all-covering burqa, fa rita tirana was touching up her makeup before hitting the campaign trail for office. "people here who look down on women who go out in public," she said. i want to change that. so tirana, a 26-year-old pop singer, spent her live savings to launch a campaign with posters and ads on television. tirana makes public appearances at parks without bodyguards, despite repeated death threats. "women don't have any freedom in this country," this woman said. only 10% of afghan girls go to primary school. only 13% of women can read. but the greatest injustice to women may be hidden here. it looks like any school, but the classroom is behind prison bars. and so is the nursery for afghanistan's youngest inmates. the children are locked up with their mothers at kabul's only jail for women. under 24-hour guard, behind rows of razor wire. more than a third of the women here were convicted of the crime of escaping their homes or adultery. each can carr

here in kabul, thy are training to comt the drug mafia which pruces 90% of the drugs opium and heroin of police, judges, and othe officials. the counternarcotics buthese are just one aspt of an enrely separateounter narcoticjudicial system that has been built up he afghistan. there are separate police, prosutors, andudges, courts and prisons. all of it in a bid to get major dr traffickers off of the streets and into dention. this is just apractice drugs raid. in realife,ou would be during thsign -- sound of nfire. the ve traffickerwho have been pardoned by president karzai were wearing police uniforms d using a police r tohift more than 100 kilos of heroin. --ere wring police uniforms. onas from a powerful family. convicting such a trafficker,çç previously thought of as untouchable, was a new milestonef the system. he mn seenere was the goveor in kabuluntil he resignedo run president karza's electionampaign. there has beenr even from within thefghan government. >> d.o.t. is guilty. --uilty is guilty >> possibly, hamid karzai thought that there were porful political groups and thata p

in a mosque in kabul, early vote counts have been posted for the public tuesday. it is still too soon to enter the key questions -- will there be another round? and how high or low the turnout? here, president karzai came second. all the same, a spokesman says the president won the first round. >> we cannot be sure because the results have to be declared by the election commission, but we expect is not going to go to a second round, and we expect we will hopefully when the election. >> but dr. abdullah abdullah insists he has won. >> the preliminary results are in my favor. yes, these are preliminary results, but these are the indications. >> there does not seem to be any doubt at all that there has been plenty of election fraud. we have come to the compound of another presidential candidate. he is not a likely winner, but he has a name which is famous throughout the country. he got his name when he fought the russians. he was the first commander to be given as standard missile by the cia. after that, he joined the taliban, but i eventually left to support the pre

the taliban claimed today that 20 armed suici bomber wearing explosive vests are now in kabul. >>> as we've be reporting, the united states isstepping up efforts to improve securityn afghistan. there are now 62,000merican oops in that cntry andhree more werkilled there tay. morehan 160 americans have died so far this year whi has us wondering, what will be the measure of their success? as nick scer of al jazeera english reports, it's a question the oba administration has been thinking about aswe. >>his is not a war of choice. a war of necessity. those whoattack america on 9/11 are plottingo do so again. >> reporter: they are callin afghistan, obama's war,and this week the americanresident was seing it again. polls suggest suort for the u.s. troop prence in that down at around40%. to fit that growing skepticism, obama last march omised to show vote meurable progress with benchmarks of 50or so metrics. >> going forward, we'll not blindly stay the course. instead, will set clear metrics to measure progress and hold ourselv acountable. >> reporter:.s. casualty numbers willlmost certainly

it's very quiet in kabul.ck points but at this polling station we ran into some eu election observers who were very confident in how things were going. there were people voting. hamid karzai, the president, voted successfully this morning. so far it's going okay. >> so, nick, how long before we're going to know any results from this election? >> reporter: well, preliminary results won't come in till september 3rd. people sitting in america might think why does it take so long? part of the reason why this country is one of the most isolated on the planet. we've been talking about how difficult it has been to gets all these polling materials to the polling booth. to get them back is the same thing. there are 3,000 donkeys were delivering polling ballots and such over the last week to isolated polling booths. they have to do the same thing to come back. we won't know for sure, at least preliminary results for a couple weeks. >> hopefully things will remain quiet throughout the day there. thanks to nick schifrin i

three militants took over a bank in kabul. police stormed the building, killing all three and the taliban has threatened to attack polling stations tomorrow. the foreign ministry told afghan journalists not to broadcast any information about attacks tomorrow, but the journalists rejected that deband. richard, paint the scene for us. what has it been like in kabul and across afghanistan today? >> reporter: today in kabul, the situation was fairly calm, but as night fell in this country, tensions have been rising outside of the capital. as you said, the u.s. military today announced that six u.s. troops have been killed, not today, but over the last 48 hours. also, the taliban today set up a check point on the outskirts of kabul. they were, according to taliban, at least six campaign workers have been killed. they've also been handing out leaflets in southern afghanistan, saying this is the final warning, telling people not to leave their homes tomorrow or otherwise they had be at risk of dying in the wave of attacks the taliban

. >> welcome to kabul on a warm, sunny day. the afghan election continued to take its course. voters have voted. we are still not sure how many. the counting is almost done and now the compiling begins. it could be a day or so before we have the unofficial results but that has not stopped the key challengers from granted lee announcing -- or their agents announcing they have already won beard this happens in many elections around the world but there are particular concern about those kinds of plymouth at the statement -- premature statement here. american and european envoys called on the politicians to act responsibly. there is long been concerned about possible recrimination, if not violence. it we will look at some of the complaints about these elections that have already been hailed as a success by the international community. . -- first, the latest developments. >> officials are telling final results. an announcement is expected in the next few days. president karzai's campaign team claimed out right victory this morning. rival counts put scorn on these claims. in spite o

embassy in kabul. there was no immediate word on casualties. the explosion comesle less than week before afghanistan holds elections for president and provincial counsels and as you well know, coalition troops have been moving into afghanistan in the past several weeks in helmand province. again, a huge blast echoed through the afghan capital. smoke seen coming in the direction of the u.s. embassy. we are working the story to give out more details to you as soon as we get them. we'll, of course, bring them to you. >>> for now, we'll turn back to our regular newscast. it was the seminal event of the '60s for many people and 40 years later woodstock is as big as ever. the three-day music festival began august -- >> has distinguished herself behind bars. she has tried so desperately to