The Associated Press
10/09/2004
By

ST. LOUIS - President Bush said Saturday that the voting in Afghanistan was a remarkable achievement due in some part to his administration.

"A marvelous thing is happening in Afghanistan,'' Bush told a breakfast fund-raiser for local Republican candidates. ``Freedom is powerful. Think about a society in which young girls couldn't go to school, and their mothers were whipped in the public square, and today they're holding a presidential election.''

In his remarks, Bush mentioned nothing of political chaos that marred the elections. Later, White House press secretary Scott McClellan played down the difficulties and proclaimed it ``a great day for the people of Afghanistan.''

Voting day passed relatively peacefully, but it ended in political turmoil as the 15 candidates opposing interim President Hamid Karzai threatened to boycott its result because of alleged widespread fraud. All 15 charged that many voters cast multiple ballots because supposedly indelible ink used to identify those who had voted was removed easily.

Officials of the independent United Nations-Afghan election body refused to stop the voting to avoid denying many Afghans the right to cast their first vote ever.

``You've seen a lot of enthusiasm. ... There was large voter turnout. Free and fair elections are taking place,'' McClellan said. ``All indications are that the election has been peaceful and orderly.''

Of the turmoil, McClellan said the election commission is in place to deal with any problems.

Bush noted that the first person to vote was a 19-year-old woman, Moqadasa Sidiqi, in Islamabad, Pakistan, who had fled her country during Afghanistan's 1990s civil war and expressed joyous disbelief that she was casting a vote.

He said her vote would have been impossible without the U.S.-led invasion in late 2001 that ousted the Taliban regime that ``ruled that country with such barbarism.'' After the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Bush ordered the invasion to unseat the Taliban militia's radical Islamic government and eliminate the al-Qaida terror bases it harbored.

Sidiqi was ``voting in this election because the United States of America believes that freedom is the almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world,'' Bush said. ``This is an appropriate day for America to remember and thank the men and women of our armed forces who liberated Afghanistan.''