Polls have opened in Afghanistan presidential election amid fears of violence following threats by the Taliban to disrupt the election process.
Tens of thousands of Afghan forces have been deployed across the country to counter Taliban militants who have vowed to target polling stations.
The polls opened at 7pm local time (2:30 GMT) on Saturday and were scheduled to close at 5pm (14:30 GMT)
The presidential election is being contested by 15 candidates, with two main candidates are the incumbent, Ashraf Ghani, and chief executive, Abdullah Abdullah.
They have shared power since 2014.
The Taliban, which has been waging a war demanding the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country following their 2001 overthrow by US-led forces, has denounced the election as a “sham”.
On Thursday, the group urged Afghans to boycott the vote and threatened to attack security forces, block roads and target polling stations across the country.
More than 72,000 security personnel have been deployed to 49,402 polling booths nationwide, while 410 polling centres will remain closed on Saturday due to security worries.
The threat of attacks has been at Afghan voters’ minds, but still some said they were still determined to go out and vote.
