Afghanistan on the eve of presidential elections

An Afghan villager carries election materials over his shoulders as he hikes back to his village along a country road high in the mountains of Shutul District in northern Afghanistan. Photograph: Shah Marai/AFP/Getty Images

A donkey cart passes billboards of presidential candidate and former Islamist warlord Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, displayed on the eve of elections in Kabul. Photograph: S. Sabawoon/EPA

A policeman stands near an election billboard at a checkpoint in Kabul. Photograph: Mohammad Ismail/Reuters

Fake election voter cards are photographed in Jalalabad. The Taliban has launched a violent campaign to disrupt this weekend's presidential election in Afghanistan, but in a restive eastern corner of the country they are paying villagers to surrender their voting cards. Photograph: Hamid Shalizi/Reuters

Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani speaks to journalists in Kabul, Afghanistan. The former World Bank official is the favorite to win vote, according to an opinion poll by a Kabul-based research group. Photograph: Parwiz Sabawoon/EPA

Afghan beautician Salma Haidari, 25, takes care of a client as she works at a salon in Kabul. Behind the opaque windows of the Black Diamond beauty parlour in western Kabul, the election has been a prime subject of conversation among clients dropping in for manicures, eyebrow grooming and massages. Photograph: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images

Afghan election workers carry ballot boxes and election materials on donkeys to deliver to polling stations in Dara-e-Noor district of Jalalabad, east of Kabul Photograph: Rahmat Gul/AP

Blood covers what is believed to be the belongings and equipment of German AP photojournalist Anja Niedringhaus, in Khost, Afghanistan. Niedringhaus was killed when a man in police uniform opened fire at a convoy of election workers she was travelling with. Canadian-born AP journalist Kathy Gannon was injured in the attack. Photograph: Pajhwok Afghan News/Demotix/Corbis

An Afghan boy carries election material on his back to polling stations which are not accessible by road in Shutul, Panjshir province Photograph: Ahmad Masood/Reuters

Afghan security officials inspect vehicles at a roadside checkpoint in Herat as security increases on the eve of presidential elections. Photograph: Jalil Rezayee/EPA

A photo of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah is seen on the dashboard of a car at a checkpoint in Kabul Photograph: Mohamma Ismail/Reuters