Democracy succeeds again...

Despite some violence, people thought it was important to vote. Hurrah!

Afghans chose a legislature for the first time in decades on Sunday, embracing their newly recovered democratic rights and braving threats of Taliban attacks to cast votes in schools, tents and mosques.

Reports of violence came in from around
Afghanistan as it sought to claw its way back from more than a quarter-century of conflict, but there were no immediate signs of a spectacular attack that officials feared from Taliban militants who vowed to disrupt the vote.

"The morning started relatively slowly," chief electoral officer Peter Erben said. "But after the morning, it has seriously picked up all over Afghanistan."