Afghan election officials agreed yesterday to create an independent commission to probe opposition charges of fraud in this nation’s first-ever presidential poll, while ballot boxes stuffed with the aspirations of the people of this war-ravaged land started to stack up in counting centers.

International officials met privately in an effort to end a boycott of the ballot by opponents of American-backed interim President Karzai, a heavy favorite to win.

Tallying of the votes had initially been expected to start yesterday, but with ballot boxes coming in from some remote areas on mules, U.N. officials said the process wouldn’t start for three to four days. Final results aren’t expected until around October 30.

A day after all 15 challengers announced they would boycott the election’s outcome, two backed off, saying they wanted a commission to rule on whether the voting was fair and indicating they would accept its decision.

A few hours later, their demand appeared to have been met.

“There is going to be an independent commission made to investigate it,” electoral director Farooq Wardak said. “There could be mistakes; we are just human beings. My colleagues might have made a mistake.”

There was no immediate reaction from the challengers, but a senior Western official said many of the 15 had decided to back down and support the investigative team, which would consist of about three foreign election experts.

The American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, and other officials spent much of yesterday meeting with the candidates. In Washington, American national security adviser Condoleezza Rice predicted that “this election is going to be judged legitimate.”

“I’m just certain of it,” she said.

The opposition complaint is focused on allegations that the supposedly indelible ink used to mark voters’ thumbs in some polling stations could be rubbed off, allowing some people to vote more than once. International election observers said the complaint did not justify calling for the vote to be nullified. The American International Republican Institute accused the challengers of trying to make up excuses for why they were likely to lose.

Electoral officials said turnout looked extremely high – a victory in itself in a nation with no experience at direct elections. Mr. Karzai said he was “very disappointed” with the complaint by his challengers.

“They should have respected the vote of the people,” he said.

Yesterday, ballots were being carried to eight centers around the country, where they were being readied for counting. In Mazar-e-Sharif, election officials said they had not received ballots that were supposed to be flowing in from five northern provinces. They said it could take until Tuesday or Wednesday for ballots to arrive from remote villages.

Widespread attacks threatened by the Taliban to disrupt the vote never materialized. The rebels managed a smattering of deadly assaults around the country, but they took the biggest hit, losing 25 men in a clash with American and Afghan forces in the south.

Lieutenant General David Barno, the top American commander in Afghanistan, said the election could sound the rebels’ death knell.

“The Taliban basically didn’t show. They had very limited attacks,” he said. “Yesterday was a huge defeat for the Taliban.”

He predicted Taliban leaders would “eventually look for ways to reconcile with the government that comes in.”

Even though Western officials gave the vote the thumbs up, a successful democracy needs an opposition that accepts election results. Mr. Karzai’s ability to unite the nation, fight warlords, and crush the Taliban insurgency might be undermined if his opponents refuse to recognize the vote’s legitimacy.

Yesterday, ethnic Hazara candidate Mohammed Mohaqeq said an electoral commission should be formed to examine the vote and later distanced himself from the challengers’ threat to boycott the results.

“To boycott and to criticize are two different things. Their position is to boycott. My position is to criticize,” he told reporters outside a mosque where he had come to pray.

The only woman in the election, Massooda Jalal, also said she might accept a commission’s finding. The opposition protest was an embarrassment to the international community, which spent $200 million putting on the election.