In the Afghan presidential election on August 20, 2009, “The Taliban had threatened to derail the elections and in one sense they did: the terrified population did not turn out to vote. Turnout was half that of the first presidential elections in 2004, when it was 73 per cent. There were 400 Taliban attacks on election day [August 20, 2009] in which 26 people were killed and dozens more wounded–one of the worst days of violence in the country’s history.”
– Ahmed Rashid, Taliban, Page 235