KABUL: Afghanistan went to the polls Thursday to elect a president for just the second time in its war-torn history with a sweeping security clampdown in force to prevent threatened Taliban attacks.

Dozens of people queued up at polling stations in the capital Kabul and at towns in the largely peaceful north, but early turnout was poor in parts of the south where the Taliban have a strong presence owing to security fears.

The Islamist militia has struck repeatedly inside the capital in a bloody countdown to the elections aimed at putting the country more firmly on the path to democracy eight years after the US-led invasion ousted the Taliban.

Western-backed President Hamid Karzai hopes to win an outright majority to avoid a run-off, but his nervous government has ordered a blackout on reporting violence during polling day, threatening journalists with heavy penalties.

"I request my dear countrymen to come out and cast their vote to decide their future," said Karzai after casting his vote in a Kabul boys' school.

Western officials have played down expectations of perfectly free and fair elections over reports of vote buying and Karzai's reliance on warlords, but say an estimated quarter of a million observers will guard against abuses. LINK