KABUL, Jan 18: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday registered to vote in upcoming elections under tight security, as he called on the international community to assist the war-wracked nation provide a safe environment for the polls.

"To the international community my request is to help Afghanistan to reach the election deadline on time by providing us better means of security and by assisting us facilitate the people of Afghanistan to get their cards for voting and to be able to vote freely," Mr Karzai told reporters after registering.

When asked whether the elections would be held as scheduled in June, he said: "We are trying to be on time, we are trying very hard." Low voter registration and security issues in parts of the country have cast doubt on whether the elections will take place this summer.

Voter registration began in eight major cities in December but so far only 421,214 people of the 10 million eligible have enrolled to vote, UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said on Sunday. Of these voters, 329,450 are men and 91,764 are women.

The registration process is due to move into regional centres and provinces within months. The spokesman said he hoped Mr Karzai's registration would "prompt other key officials and Afghan personalities to follow his lead and we hope this sends a strong signal to the rest of the country about the importance of voter registration." Mr Karzai has previously said he would contest the presidential election.-AFP