Across Afghanistan on Monday, donkeys, camels and trucks carried sealed ballot boxes to counting centres where the results of Sunday's landmark elections will be determined.

World leaders hailed the vote, saying Afghans had braved Taliban violence in a show of determination to build a peaceful future, although many fewer people turned out for the legislative elections than for last year's presidential poll.

The election commission estimated turnout at just over 50 percent compared with 67 percent last year.

The elections for a national assembly and provincial councils went ahead despite threats by Taliban guerrillas to disrupt the vote. At least 14 people were killed in violence but voting was overwhelmingly peaceful and went ahead in all districts.

"When you think four years ago Taliban were here, women were being stoned to death at halftime at football games, now you have women running polling centres and women voting and men voting and, I think, each one voting for some of the others as well," U.S. ambassador Ronald Neumann told a news conference.

The head of a European Union election observer mission said the U.N.-organised polls were generally well administered and peaceful and marked "a significant step forward for Afghanistan's democratic development."

However, Emma Bonino pointed to shortcomings, including numerous reports of intimidation and the killing of several candidates and election workers, and said the electoral system itself should be reconsidered.

Neumann said Afghanistan needed now to concentrate on building up institutions like the judicial system and the police.

He stressed the elections did not signal the end of U.S. or international help for Afghanistan and the international community was now drawing up a new plan for assistance.

A conference is expected in London in January to chart the next five years of help for Afghanistan, U.N. officials say.

FOREIGN TROOPS TO STAY

Neumann said foreign troops would remain as long they were needed to maintain security. "I have absolutely no doubt we will maintain the United States and allied military capabilities to confront any challenge," he told a news conference.

Neumann said the deployment of Pakistani troops on its side of the border had contributed to the success of the election.

Pakistan, frequently accused by Afghan and U.S. officials of failing to stop militants crossing into Afghanistan to launch attacks, said it had deployed a record number of troops to improve security for the elections. It welcomed the polls as a big step forward toward peace and stability.

Vote counting starts on Tuesday and will take 16 days.

Donkeys, camels and horses have been helping fleets of trucks bring in ballot boxes from southern deserts and rugged northern mountains to provincial counting centres.

There were 150,000 ballot boxes and the risks were shown when a truck was slightly damaged by a roadside bomb on Sunday. No one was hurt and the boxes it carried were not damaged.

The Taliban had called on voters to boycott the polls but failed to derail preparations in spite of months of violence in which more than 1,000 people were killed.

While Afghanistan's allies hailed the vote, the new parliament is expected to be fragmented and, with members expected to focus on local rather than national agendas, could prove more of a help than a hindrance to President Hamid Karzai.

U.S. President George W. Bush praised Afghans for "braving deadly attacks and threats of violence" to vote in large numbers.

However, the lower number of voters compared with Karzai's election last year will be a disappointment for some -- on the eve of the vote, the U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Lieutenant-General Karl Eikenberry, predicted a record turnout.

Chief Electoral Officer Peter Erben said a lower turnout was normal in post-conflict situations, when initial enthusiasm often eased in subsequent votes. He called the turnout "satisfactory" and said it compared with elections in countries such as Bosnia.