United Nations to investigate Afghan Election
Pakistan Times Staff Report

KABUL (Afghanistan): The United Nations is to investigate alleged irregularities in Afghanistan's presidential election.

All allegations of voter fraud must be submitted in writing to the UN panel by 1430 GMT on Wednesday, organisers say.

The ruling means counting of ballots, which should have begun on Monday, cannot start until after that deadline.

Yunus Qanuni

One of President Karzai's main rivals, Yunus Qanuni, has vowed to accept the inquiry findings. Ink to stop multiple voting allegedly failed to work.

Speaking after talks with US and UN envoys, Qanuni said, "To respect the will of millions of Afghans and to go along with our national interests I would accept the results of the election after the investigation."

He said he wanted the inquiry report published before the election results were announced.

Ballot Boxes

Meanwhile, ballot boxes from the election have been pouring into counting centres across the country.

Afghanistan's Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) says ballot boxes in areas where complaints have been made will be separated from those of other areas.

Once they have been isolated, officials can start counting the rest of the votes.

The Result

It may now take as long as three weeks for the full results to emerge.

Tuesday's deadline for complaints may have delayed the count, but work is still being done by officials to ensure that the number of votes cast tallies with the number of people eligible to vote.

Four Rockets land in Afghan Capital

Four rockets landed Monday evening in the Afghan capital killing one man and injuring a child two days after the country's historic election, police said.

In the first attack, one rocket was launched near the Kabul International Airport which landed about a kilometer (nearly a mile) away from the launch position, said Lieutenant Commander Ken McKillop spokesman for the NATO-led peacekeeping force.

Kabul city police confirmed the report and said one child was slightly injured in that attack.

Military Hospital Targeted

Three other rockets were fired on the capital, one of them landing in downtown Kabul near a 400-bed military hospital.

"One person of 18 to 19 years age was killed," said General Mahboob, commander of the Kabul police rapid reaction force but gave no details.

Rockets were fired in the Afghan capital Thursday evening and early hours of Friday, ahead of the presidential vote the next day but caused no casualties.●