The only problem was that no one knew where the Kuchi were staying so the driver had to search out their tents

The only problem was that no one knew where the Kuchi were staying, so the driver had to search out their tents and camels. It had been laid on by the election authorities as a sort of shuttle bus service to take nomads to the polling stations to vote. Nuristan is one of only two provinces that were considered too dangerous for election monitors because of the lawlessness of its people The other is Konar, a Taliban stronghold. He had forgotten his voter card - and since his home lies 48 hours walk from the end of the nearest road, he could not do much about it. He comes from Nuristan, the most remote of Afghanistan's extraordinarily remote places, made famous in the West by Eric Newby's A Short Walk in the Hindu Kush And he was a little confused about the elections.

He thought President Hamid Karzai was the new king.Assadullah is a migrant worker. He registered to vote in Nuristan, but he couldn't afford to take the time off work to trek back there to vote. To make matters more confusing, each province elects more than one member to parliament - how many depends on the population - but voters only get to choose one.One man who was not voting was Assadullah. Every Afghan must vote for the future of his country because this election can help us develop our country."Mr Racha's journey gives a sense of the sheer logistical difficulties of holding a parliamentary election in a country as undeveloped as Afghanistan - the more so when you consider that the Panjshir Valley, where he voted, is well-developed compared to much of the country.The ballot-papers were bewilderingly long - eight pages in Kabul province, where 340 candidates were standing for 33 seats. He could not afford to delay if he wanted to be home before the sun went down."It's a difficult journey," he said "But we must vote for our representatives. Mir Racha walked for four hours through the mountains to cast his vote.He set off just after dawn and when he arrived at Bazarak, a small village of mud houses in the middle of the Panjshir Valley, he cast his vote, stood talking with old acquaintances for a few minutes, then set off again on the four-hour walk home.

Sarar was caked with dust, it coated his face, his long yellow patu shawl and his pakoul cap. Lunch follows a series of stretches, and four hours later, he gets up to run again. Afterwards, he practises the alphabet and is striving to be the first in his family to learn to read.Budhia can already point out his name on the prize he won from the state governor for completing a 15 mile run at a recent athletics meet The boy still has far to run.. When they decided the time had come to vote, Sarar and his fellow nomads simply herded their camels to the polling station They tethered the camels outside and filed in. The boy is gaining muscle, height, and strength."I wake up early in the morning, finish my daily chores and start running I don't feel the pain when I run I enjoy it," Bushia said yesterday. Meanwhile a couple of rockets landed at a UN base near the election headquarters in Kabul, injuring one man It was election time in Afghanistan. "I will run when I grow up," he added.Road training for Budhia begins at 5am every day and continues until noon.