Kabul

Pakistan: 'We are part of the solution in Afghanistan'

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani couldn't have been more blunt when he said a few weeks ago that: "Nothing can happen in Afghan peace talks with the Taliban without us. We are part of the solution. We are not part of the problem."

For some in Afghanistan, however, Pakistan is a part of the problem – blocking any attempt to find a political solution to the conflict that doesn't secure its strategic interests at home.

Last February, I was in Kabul when news of the arrest of the Taliban's Mullah Brader emerged. Second-in-command only to the Afghan Taliban’s supreme leader Mullah Omar, his capture in the Pakistani city of Karachi was described as a success.

In Afghanistan, government sources told us that it was a setback to peace efforts.

Mullah Brader was reportedly involved in secret negotiations with Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president, albeit without Pakistan’s consent. His arrest was a clear message from Islamabad.

How midterm vote will impact US wars

Just a couple of years ago, Barack Obama appeared as the great hope for a modern America, one that was willing to admit its mistakes and to do some soul-searching as to whether they were fighting a just war in Iraq. It was that debate that perhaps led Obama to become president. He also promised hope for an economy on the brink of ruin. And his promise to bring back the troops from Iraq struck a chord with the voters eager for a change of policy from the Neo conservative-dominated US administration to a more liberal one willing to consider toning down America’s costly foreign wars that have, according to some estimates, crossed the three trillion dollar mark.

Despite that the wars in the far away lands have been showing no signs of a breakthrough - perhaps because of the extra baggage inherited from the Bush administration.

Live coverage: Afghan election

15:20 GMT: That will wrap up our election coverage, as poll workers now shift from collecting vote to counting them.

Turnout is estimated to have been around 40 per cent. It's important to stress that the counting process will be just that - a process. Preliminary results are not expected for several days or weeks, and with thousands of candidates, there will be many challenges to those numbers. The IEC does not plan to release final results until the end of October.

12:25 GMT: The Taliban says on on its website that the group has conducted more than 100 attacks during the day.

12:17 GMT: Some statistics from an IEC press conference currently under way in Kabul: 5,355 polling centres opened today, with 542 either closed or not reporting any results.

Afghans shocked by Kabul Bank troubles

Kabul Bank is the topic of the moment in Afghanistan. 

Last week, several American media outlets broke the story that the bank was in trouble and its top two executives - the chairman and the CEO - had been fired. The bank had apparently over-loaned to its own shareholders, who in turn, invested millions of dollars in property in Dubai.  

It took a while for the news to spread around the country, but when it did, it sent a shockwave. Kabul Bank is the largest private bank in Afghanistan - it has a good network of branches throughout the country, and it handles the salaries of security forces, teachers and civil servants.