Afghans see hope in chance to choose new leader

Two Afghan women shrouded in black emerged from a campaign rally carrying bundles of sticks with pieces of torn posters still attached.
The women were not intending to knit back together what pictures remained of the presidential hopeful. They simply needed firewood to heat their home.
Afghanistan's enduring poverty, and corruption, is making it easier for the Taliban to make inroads nearly 13 years after a US-led invasion ousted them from power.
The militants have vowed to disrupt tomorrow's nationwide elections with violence, and recent high-profile attacks in the heart of Kabul are clearly designed to show they are perfectly capable of doing just that.

Today, a veteran Associated Press photographer was killed and an AP reporter was wounded when an Afghan policeman opened fire while the two were sitting in their car in the city of Khost, in eastern Afghanistan.
The two were travelling in a convoy of election workers delivering ballots but it was not immediately clear if the attack was related to the polling.

If voters turn out in large numbers and the Afghans are able to hold a successful election, that could undermine the Taliban's appeal by showing democracy can indeed work.
With President Hamid Karzai constitutionally barred from a third term, Afghans will choose a new president in what promises to be the nation's first democratic transfer of power.

As international combat forces prepare to withdraw by the end of this year, the country is so unstable that the very fact the crucial elections are being held is touted as one of the few successes in Karzai's tenure.
Three men are considered top contenders in the race, a major shift from past elections dominated by Karzai, who has ruled the country since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.
That has presented Afghans with their first presidential vote in which the outcome is uncertain.
There do not appear to be major policy differences toward the West between the front-runners, Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai's top rival in the last election; Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, an academic and former World Bank official; and Zalmai Rassoul, a former foreign minister.

All have promised to sign a security agreement with the United States that will allow thousands of foreign troops to remain in the country after 2014, which Karzai has refused to do.