Despite a continued Taliban insurgency, growing election violence and a booming opium trade, the Pentagon chief on a daylong visit said: "Each time I come I notice the amazing progress that's being made - the energy on the streets, the new stores, kiosks, cars."

Rumsfeld also noted that the United Nations has said more than 9 million people have registered to vote in the country's presidential election this October, the first vote since the fall of the Taliban government.

But Afghanistan's interim president, Hamid Karzai, faced questions during a news conference with Rumsfeld about the legitimacy of that election in light of reports that many voters have registered multiple times and may try to vote more than once.

"This is an exercise in democracy. Let them exercise it twice!" Karzai said. "We cannot be perfect."

Karzai later hastened to add that voters will have their hands marked in ink that will be difficult to remove in an effort to prevent them from voting more than once.

The upcoming election also has been marred by the country's continuing violence - much of it from Taliban-led rebels. Karzai noted that 12 election workers had been killed in recent months.

In addition, 23 American soldiers have been killed in combat in the country so far this year - making 2004 the deadliest year for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. This has undermined claims by American and Afghan officials that militants are on the defensive and security is improving.

In all, 58 U.S. soldiers have been killed in action since the United States entered Afghanistan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. Counting accidents, the U.S. death toll since 2001 is at 130.

Violence has intensified with the approach of the election. Afghan troops and U.S. warplanes killed as many as 70 militants near the Pakistani border on Aug. 1, officials said - one of the biggest clashes in recent years.

Karzai, who faces 17 opponents in October, clearly is the American favorite although Rumsfeld and other officials have avoided endorsing him and said the U.S. government would work with whomever Afghan voters choose.

Joining Karzai at a news conference shortly after arriving, the U.S. defense secretary said, "Your leadership team is showing great courage in your efforts" to stabilize the country.

Rumsfeld called the registration of 9 million voters "a very vivid demonstration of the Afghan people's determination to make democracy work." The United States estimates Afghanistan has 28.5 million citizens, half of whom are under the voting age of 18.

Rumsfeld also traveled to Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan by military helicopter to view reconstruction and counternarcotics efforts.

Joined by General Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Rumsfeld met with a team of Afghan soldiers trained to hunt drug smugglers. Their commander, Brig. Ahmad Khalid, said the group had taken out more than a dozen drug labs. The region around Jalalabad is prime country for growing poppy plants, which can be used to make opium.

Rumsfeld said U.S.-led coalition forces are preparing a coordinated effort to attack the narcotics, although he offered few specifics.

American military commanders in Afghanistan have said previously they don't have enough troops to go after the poppy trade and still hunt Taliban and al-Qaida holdouts.

United Nations surveys estimate Afghanistan accounted for three quarters of the world's opium last year, and the trade brought in $2.3 billion, more than half of the nation's gross domestic product. New surveys suggest even more has been planted this year.

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