Afghans tie hopes to the elections

Ordinary Afghans are eagerly awaiting the outcome of Saturday's presidential elections, a milestone in the country's long road back to peace, prosperity and stability. "I left my family in Germany to move to Kabul until the end of the elections. Only then will I decide whether or not to remain," Jamshid told IRIN, expressing his hopes for the election. But with peace still the greatest challenge facing the nation, many Afghans remain cautious of its outcome. The newly established businessman told his future in-laws based in Kabul at the beginning of the year that he would marry in August, but as soon as the election was postponed to October the man balked at the idea. "No, I should be sure of the situation in Afghanistan when I get married. Then I should stay in Kabul indefinitely," the clean-shaven young man told his mother, who wants to return home after Jamshid gets together with his fiancée. Born 29 years ago in Kabul's upmarket neighbourhood of Wazir Akbar Khan, Jamshid left his homeland just three months before the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996. Most people interested in establishing businesses in Afghanistan are keenly awaiting the aftermath of the 9 October polls. Engineer Salahuddin Nadi has signed up with an American investor for a project to build residential apartments in Kabul and the southern city of Kandahar, but concedes that he will only start work when he is confident of conditions inside the country. "I struggled for last two years to complete all the legal and official measures of the contract we signed with the government and everything is ready now. But all our eyes remain fixed on what happens in the elections," the depositor of millions of dollars told IRIN. Mohammad Jafar Mehdi now works in a bank in Kabul, while his wife and children stay in the central province of Bamyan. "I found a house here that I want to rent for one year for my family. I called my family yesterday to tell them that we'll be moving into that house soon, Inshallah [God willing], as the election seems set to be peaceful," he said. Back on the street, the sentiment is much the same. Sediqullah, a carpet salesman in the eastern city of Jalalabad, travels across crowded streets burdened with several small carpets on his back. "My carpet business will gain more momentum and I will sell more carpets if a stable and democratic government comes. People will build more new houses and offices which need these red carpets for sure," he told IRIN.