KABUL (AFP) - Enthusiastic voters defied threats and turned out in force across Afghanistan for historic presidential polls, but hopes for an end to decades of conflict were dimmed by opposition claims of fraud.
Long lines of voters queued patiently outside polling stations from the arid streets of the former Taliban regime's southern stronghold of Kandahar to the villages of the northern Hindu Kush mountains.
"I came here to elect my president on my own. The election marks the end of warlords and wars in my country," declared Hayam Udin, 50, in Kabul, echoing the hopes of countless fellow voters.
Election authorities, who extended voting by two hours to 1330 GMT, rejected a call by 14 of the 18 presidential candidates for the ballot to be halted because of widespread irregularities.
"Hundreds are voting and at this point halting the voting is unjustified and would deny these individuals the right to vote," the Joint Electoral Management Body said in a statement.
Yunus Qanooni, the main challenger to President Hamid Karzai, was among the candidates charging fraud because it appeared indelible ink meant to prevent multiple voting could be rubbed out.
An aide to Qanooni also alleged that polling stations had closed prematurely in areas populated by opposition supporters, while remaining open in pro-Karzai areas.
The election is a milestone in Afghanistan's road to recovery after a quarter-century of war capped by five years of harsh rule by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban militia, who were ousted by US-led forces three years ago for harbouring Osama bin Laden after the September 11 terror attacks.
The ballot is also a test for US President George W. Bush, who will take his controversial foreign policy to the polls next month.
US officials have hailed the vote as a fulfilment of US promises of democracy, as they prepare for elections in Iraq in January.
Karzai, who is strongly backed and protected by the United States, cast his vote under tight security in Kabul.
"For the first time we are electing our president so it is not important who wins," he said. "What is important is that Afghanistan is deciding its fate."
Chosen as interim leader by a council of tribal leaders in June 2002, Karzai only managed one campaign rally. His first attempt at rallying the people was aborted by an assassination attempt. His running mate also survived an assassination attempt.
Chief rival Qanooni is the favourite of the powerful anti-Taliban ethnic Tajik clique from the northern Panjshir Valley.
With few policies in the campaign, most Afghans were expected to vote along ethnic lines, giving Karzai a strong chance as he hails from the southern Pashtun majority, shared by the former Taliban rulers.
Tajiks, Uzbeks, Hazaras and Baluchis make up the rest of the mosaic of Afghanistan's tribes.
Fears were high ahead of the poll that warlords, who still wield power through their private armies, would intimidate voters.
The still-undersized Afghan army and police force are inadequate to guard all 5,000 polling booths so militiamen from warlords' private armies have been deployed in many areas.
Backing up the local security forces are 27,000 foreign troops from a US-led coalition and NATO, to protect the 10.5 million registered voters.
Only 230 international monitors are braving threats of Taliban violence, which has claimed 12 electoral workers' lives since May.
"This is the most important day in the history of Afghanistan," Haji Abdul Salaam, 55, said in the conservative southern city Kandahar.
"I was so happy I did not sleep," said Gholam Rezah, 55 in the western city of Herat, close to the border with Iran.
There were none of the feared carbombs or grenade attacks, with the most serious security incident being a firefight between US-led troops and militants south of Kabul in which three coalition troops were wounded, a coalition spokesman said.
Some 350 kilogrammes of explosives were seized as they were being smuggled over the border from Afghanistan.