Bush congratulates Afghans for parliamentary elections

US President George W. Bush on Monday expressed his congratulations for the Afghans who went to the polls to vote in the country's parliamentary elections.

"I want to congratulate the people of Afghanistan for showing up at the polls and defying the Taliban and those who threaten their lives," Bush said in the White House.

"These people supported democracy and it's just another step on their road toward a stable democracy, and we congratulate them," he said.

Bush made the remarks after millions of war-weary Afghans, defying the threat of Taliban, used their franchise in the September 18 landmark legislative elections.

To build a new nation in the post-Taliban central Asian state, over six million Afghans risked militants' attacks and voted to elect the members of parliament and provincial councils, which is the first in Afghanistan in over three decades.

Source: Xinhua