Afghans Vote to Elect New President --- Afghans on Saturday voted to elect a new president who would replace Hamid Karzai, steering the country as U.S.-led forces withdraw, foreign aid declines and the Taliban plot a comeback. -- The Taliban launched hundreds of scattered attacks around the country, but none disrupted the vote in major population centers by the time polls closed at 4 p.m. Preliminary election results are slated to be released on July 2. -- More than 20 civilians and at least 26 Afghan troops were killed during the day, the government said. The deadliest of these attacks appeared to be a rocket that hit a home in the eastern province of Khost, killing seven children. Afghan security forces were deployed throughout the major cities, studding roads with checkpoints and protecting the precincts -- According to election commission chief Yusuf Nuristani, some 7 million Afghans voted, roughly the same number as during the election's first round in April. -- One of them was Hikmatullah Shadman, a Dubai-based businessman who flew to Kabul specially to cast his ballot. He scoffed at the Taliban threats. "We want to slap them in the face," Mr. Shadman said. "We want to show them we are the owners of this country, we are the people who are choosing the leader of our country." -- In the eastern city of Jalalabad, voter Amin Khpalwak was just as defiant. "The Taliban have warned they will cut off the fingers of voters, but even if the cut off my whole hand, I will still vote," he said. --- Saturday's vote follows April's first round, which propelled former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani into the runoff. --- "The turnout of the people in the election took our country one more step, a very strong step, towards stability and prosperity," Mr. Karzai said, congratulating Afghan voters after polls closed Saturday. "The people of Afghanistan, with a strong will and determination, went to vote, and made Afghanistan proud and successful." -- Mr. Karzai also expressed his condolences to the families of Afghans killed during the election. -- The election comes as the U.S.-led coalition's combat mission winds down in December, and as Afghanistan's aid-dependent economy begins to feel the pain from international disengagement. -- Despite Mr. Nuristani's estimate of a high turnout, few polling stations in Kabul were as crowded as they had been in April. At one polling center in western Kabul, where voters snaked up the staircase for hours in the first round, only a handful of voters could be seen wandering in on Saturday. -- Voters moved more quickly through precincts on Saturday because, in April, the presidential vote was combined with provincial council elections that involved filling a complicated separate ballot, election officials say. -- The Abdullah and Ghani camps began trading allegations of fraud before the polls closed. Nader Nadery, who heads the Free Election Foundation of Afghanistan, which deployed 9,500 observers across the country, said it was too early to draw conclusions on the extent of fraud. "Allegations [of ballot stuffing] are there across the board," he said. "We are collecting whatever critical or sensitive material there is and treating it carefully." -- Mr. Nuristani, the election commission chairman, acknowledged receiving reports of fraud, including by election officials and by security forces. --- In a statement congratulating Afghans for defying Taliban threats and casting their vote in large numbers, U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham urged the country's election authorities to "perform their roles impartially, responsibly, and transparently. Vigilance and oversight are essential and allegations of fraud need to be addressed." -- Mr. Cunningham, however, also urged the two rivals to avoid trading allegations of electoral fraud too quickly: "The candidates and their supporters should refrain from premature judgments and from criticism that is not supported with clear evidence." --- The Taliban believe Saturday's election as illegitimate because of the continuing presence of U.S. troops. "The only product of this deceitful process is the continuation of the invasion and paving the way for the presence of invaders in Afghanistan," the Taliban said in a statement before the election. -- Both front runners said they intend to sign a security agreement with the U.S. that would allow 9,800 American troops to remain in the country after the coalition's mandate ends in December. Mr. Karzai has so far refused to sign the deal. - More, WSJ, http://online.wsj.com/articles/afghans-vote-to-elect-new-president-1402714188