Balloting for the key Afghan parliamentary polls began Sunday morning in the post-Taliban nation amid tight security. (Photo: Xinhua/Reuters)

    KABUL, Sept. 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Balloting for the key Afghan parliamentary polls began Sunday morning in the post-Taliban nation amid tight security.

    The voting began at 6 a.m. local time and will continue till 4 p.m. in the afternoon.

    In front of most polling stations in the capital Kabul, voters are waiting for their turn to use their franchise.

    But some of the polling stations have not been opened on time. In a mosque-turned polling center in central Kabul, the polling time has been delayed for some traffic reasons.

    "We have arrived here at about 5:30 this morning, and now it's already 6:30 but we still cannot enter the polling station," Mohammad Sadiq, an old man, told Xinhua at the gate of the polling station with some 20 persons.

    Maybe because of the early time, only one female voter has been seen in the three polling stations that have been visited.

    Over 12.5 million Afghans are going to elect their representatives for the Wolsi Jirga or Lower House and Provincial Councils from among 5,766 candidates across the country.

    Taliban's remnants who term the election as a plot to "legitimize the US occupation of Afghanistan" in a stern warning the other day asked Afghans to stay away from the process or face its dire consequences.

    Over 100,000 Afghan Army and Police backed by 20,000-strong US-dominated coalition troops and 10,000 NATO-led multinational force have been tasked to provide security for the election day. Enditem