Afghan Women Defy Taliban to Vote

Lines of blue burqas marked Saturday's Afghan elections as women turned out in large numbers to vote in several cities -- unthinkable under the Taliban, who would not allow women to work or study, let alone cast their ballot.

In the eastern city of Jalalabad, three women posed for photographers outside a school turned into a polling station for the first round of the presidential election.

Each held a baby in one hand and with the other proudly showed her index finger, stained purple to show she has voted.

Nearby, 20-year-old Ayesha wore a look of unwavering determination as she went to cast her first-ever vote, ignoring the threat to attack the polls from Taliban insurgents, ever-present in this part of Afghanistan.

"I am eligible to vote and even if there were suicide attacks by the Taliban, I would have not cared about it," she told Agence France Presse.

"We have to vote to show the enemies we are not afraid of them. We should give our enemies a jaw-breaking answer by casting our ballot."

Shabnam, in her 20s, who like many Afghans uses only one name, shared her defiance.

"Today is women's day for us and it is our day, I have come here with lots of excitement to come and cast my ballots to choose our next leader," Shabnam said.

In Jalalabad and the surrounding area, women formed long queues even before polls opened -- a sign of a changing society, increasingly aware of the importance of elections.

The deputy head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, Nicholas Haysom, pointed to encouraging numbers such as the 300 women standing in provincial council elections.

There are some signs that Afghan men are coming round to the idea of women's involvement as well. Of the eight presidential candidates, all men, three chose a woman among their running mates, including Zalmai Rassoul, one of the favorites.

"When I left home, my wife and daughter told me they were also interested to cast their ballots for the election, and I did not oppose them," one male voter in Jalalabad told Agence France Presse.

But, according to local sources, female voters were much fewer in number in rural areas, where the Taliban have more influence.

In the last presidential election in 2009, women made up 40 percent of voters. But, in the conservative rural areas, the darker side of the female vote came out -- fraud through fake voting cards and communal bloc voting.

Women also voted in large numbers on Saturday in Kabul, where presidential candidate Daud Sultanzoi cast his ballot with his wife, Zohra, who made an appeal on TV.

"I have never been afraid of the Taliban and ask the women to practice their rights and vote if they want their voices heard. Their vote is a blow to dark-minded people," she said.