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Earlier this year, Afghanistan embarked on its second presidential campaign season, with over forty candidates registering to run for president, and over 3,000 candidates for provincial offices. The election itself took place on August 20th, and the results are still being tallied – but, according to preliminary results, the two front-runners are current president Hamid Karzai and former Foreign Minister Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. Members of the Taliban boycotted the election process and threatened those who participated with violence. Although security was heavy, nearly 800 polling stations (out of 7,000) were not opened due to feared insecurity – insurgent attacks having spiked in frequency leading up to the 20th. The Afghan government also issued a ban on media coverage of violence during election day, fearing such news would drive down turnout. Find below photos from around Afghanistan during its recent election. (40 + 3 photos total)

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An Afghan National Policeman threatenens photographers with his weapon as they attempt to secure the site of a bank where gunmen attacked on August 19, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Paula Bronstein/Getty Images) #

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(And, from another angle:) An Afghan policeman aims his weapon at photojournalists Paula Bronstein and Kevin Frayer as he prevents them from approaching the area where three gunmen stormed a bank in Kabul on August 19, 2009. (PEDRO UGARTE/AFP/Getty Images) #