Women and incumbent President Hamid Karzai were the first to cast their votes in the final round in Afghanistan's presidential election on Saturday.
Media reports said polling began at 7 a.m. local time, with voters keen to pick a successor to President Karzai, who has been in power since the U.S.-led invasion ousted the Taliban in 2001.
The presidential run-off has ended in being a contest between former anti-Taliban fighter Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani.
In the first round of the presidential polls held on April 5, neither secured the required 50 percent majority to establish their win outright. Abdullah won 45 percent of the vote, while Ghani got 31.6 percent.
The eventual winner will inherit an unfinished war and an economy in the doldrums, besides the continuing threat from the Taliban.
Afghanistan's largely foreign-trained army will also be tested for its effectiveness in the absence of foreign troops, the bulk of whom will leave by the end of 2014.
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The insurgents have warned people not to vote, describing the elections as a U.S.-sponsored charade.
As the polling process commenced, women voters in Kabul dipped their fingers in indelible ink and filled out ballot papers in a cardboard booth, before dropping the papers into a sealed box.
Voters said the heavy security presence at the polling stations made them feel safe.
In all, 12 million eligible voters will exercise their franchise at 6,365 polling centres across Afghanistan.
The high turnout of nearly 60 percent in the first round was a major defeat for the Taliban.
However, observers expect fewer than five million voters this time, partly because of security concerns.
On Friday, Afghanistan's independent election commission delivered ballot boxes and election materials to polling stations in Kabul.
Before casting his ballot, Karzai greeted election officials at the polling station.
The vote will pave the way for the first ever peaceful, democratic transfer of power in the country's history.
Analysts and diplomats don't expect voters to turn out in large numbers to cast their votes, as in the first round, over 6.6 million valid ballots were cast.
It is expected, according to the Guardian newspaper, that rural voters may be busy with the harvest, worried about security or simply no longer willing to bother voting without the free transport and other incentives laid on in April by candidates in local elections, held at the same time as the first round.
The candidates say authorities have not resolved all the problems from April that led to ballot shortages in many places and hundreds of thousands of votes being cast out.
Abdullah was quoted by the paper, as saying that he was concerned about systematic fraud, and the fact that ballot shortages were not addressed properly.
Security is tight, with more restrictions and checkpoints in place. Kabul authorities have shut roads into the city for everyone except for election candidates and people with medical emergencies from Friday. The streets were almost deserted apart from traffic jams at multiple checkpoints.