KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan’s presidential vote count passed the 80 percent mark with interim President Hamid Karzai holding onto his clear majority yesterday, but any potential celebrations were cut short by a Taliban suicide bombing in Kabul.
One person died and nine persons were injured in the attack on the busy shopping strip known as “Chicken Street,” including three Icelandic peacekeepers from the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).
Taliban militants, who failed to carry out promised attacks in the lead up to the historic Oct. 9 presidential polls, claimed responsibility.
The suicide blast, along with a roadside bombing that injured a U.S. soldier, overshadowed progress in the election count, which Mr. Karzai looked certain to win with 81.1 percent of the votes tallied by 5:43 p.m. yesterday.
The latest count released on the official electoral Web site showed Mr. Karzai had won 3,574,203 votes, or 54.6 percent, of the 6,628,072 ballots counted.
His nearest rival, former education minister and ethnic Tajik Yunus Qanooni, had 17 percent of the vote.
Mr. Karzai needs about 500,000 more votes to attain the simple majority of 50 percent-plus-one to avoid a second-round runoff, and his aides said they were confident this would be achieved.
“I wouldn’t say that we are concerned,” a presidential palace source said yesterday when asked about the possibility of Mr. Karzai’s vote dipping below the key 50 percent figure.
Mr. Karzai’s tally is likely to surpass the simple majority within days, but the official declaration of the winner will be delayed until all votes are counted and an investigation of complaints about the poll is completed.
Yesterday’s suicide bombing in Kabul was the most brazen attack following several other outbreaks of violence around Afghanistan since the peaceful polling day.
Kabul police chief Gen. Baba Jan said the suicide bomber walked into crowded Chicken Street, an area popular with foreigners, and blew up grenades that were strapped to his body at 3:30 p.m.
“We claim responsibility for all attacks against foreign troops in Afghanistan, as well as today’s attack in Kabul,” Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.
“We didn’t attack the elections because we did not want to harm and kill innocent people, but the Americans and foreign troops are our enemies.
“There will be more attacks around the country such as today’s attacks. We will remain an enemy of this government; we don’t care if it is elected or selected,” Hakimi said.
He also said the Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan for five years until U.S.-led forces ousted them in 2001, was responsible for a roadside bombing that injured a U.S. soldier in eastern Nangarhar province yesterday.
Post-Oct. 9 attacks have killed at least 20 persons, including two U.S. soldiers and three children.
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