Ballot boxes from across Afghanistan are being brought to counting centres where the results of yesterday'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 last time.
The election commission estimated turnout at just over 50 per cent.
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.
"Braving deadly attacks and threats of violence, Afghans voted in large numbers," US President George W Bush said in a message of congratulations.
Rows of battered trucks lined up under a blazing sun outside Kabul's counting centre in the dusty eastern outskirts of the city. Nato troops guarded the main road to the centre.
Opaque plastic ballot boxes - their lids locked with numbered blue metal seals - were stacked in the trucks. A truck carrying ballot boxes was slightly damaged by a roadside bomb in Nangarhar province in the east last night but no one was hurt, police said.
In all, 150,000 ballot boxes were used. Counting starts tomorrow and is expected to take two weeks. The Taliban had called on voters to boycott the polls but failed in their efforts to derail preparations in spite of months of violence in which more than 1,000 people were killed.