Afghans vote again in final test as Taliban threats loom

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By Mirwais Harooni and Praveen Menon KABUL (Reuters) - Afghans headed back to the polls on Saturday for a second round of voting to elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai in a decisive test of Afghanistan's ambitions to transfer power democratically for the first time in its tumultuous history. The vote pits former anti-Taliban fighter Abdullah Abdullah against ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani after neither secured the 50 percent majority needed to win outright in the first round on April 5. Today is one such challenge and we will rise to the occasion," said Arash Yarmand, an electrical engineer preparing to cast his vote in Kabul. "There's a lot of expectations from the new government and we hope they live up to it." As most foreign troops leave by the end of 2014, whoever takes over from Karzai will inherit a troubled country with an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency and an economy crippled by corruption and the weak rule of law.




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