One-man race

Germany's new foreign minister, Guido Westerwelle, expressed disappointment with Afghan opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah's withdrawal from the presidential run-off election.

In remarks at the National Congress of Young Liberals on Sunday in Saarbruecken, Westerwelle said the situation in Afghanistan required a level-headed reaction and that now "the election process should be completed in accordance with law and order."

Meanwhile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that Abdullah had told him that his decision to pull out was "in the interests of national unity." Brown said that Afghan President Hamid Karzai had called him after Abdullah's announcement to say that he wanted to issue a "unity manifesto" for the Afghan people. He added that he couldn't rule out Abdullah's inclusion in a unity government.

"I don't think anything is being ruled out. But I think what is more likely is once the decision has been made about the second round election, President Karzai, or whoever is president, will want to unify the country," Brown said Sunday.

Abdullah Abdullah told supporters in Kabul on Sunday that he was withdrawing from the November 7 contest to protest what he described as "misconduct" by the government and the country's electoral commission.

He said he made the decision after his demands to avoid a repeat of massive first-round fraud were rejected by Karzai.

"The decision … was not an easy one. It was a decision that I have taken after wide-ranging consultations with the people of Afghanistan, my supporters and influential leaders," Abdullah said in a lengthy address.

The former foreign minister went on to launch a scathing attack on Karzai's eight-year rule, dimming any hopes that the two rivals could yet agree on some form of power-sharing agreement.

"We have had eight years of lost opportunities because of the weakness of the government," he said to applause from around 2,000 supporters.

Demand to sack top officials

Following the widespread fraud in the first round on August 20, Abdullah demanded that Karzai sack the head of the electoral commission, Azizullah Ludin, and suspend four ministers who campaigned for the incumbent.

The Abdullah camp had set a deadline of Saturday for Karzai to yield to the demands, saying that he would not take part in a contest that would not be free and fair.

However, his demands received short shrift, with electoral authorities saying Ludin could only be dismissed by Afghanistan's supreme court, while Karzai said Abdullah had no right to interfere with ministerial positions.

"The election commission was not independent. It was their job to ensure a credible election and we saw what happened," Abdullah said. "The people were deprived of their democratic rights."

"Poll will be held"

Speaking on Afghan television shortly before Abdullah's announcement, Karzai's campaign spokesman indicated that the election would still go ahead.

"The election law says that in the event of a second round, the candidates must participate," the spokesman told a private television station.

"The conditions (set by Abdullah) were impractical and had no basis in law. These conditions were never received by us but only given to UNAMA," Karzai's spokesman added, referring to the UN mission in Afghanistan.

Karzai's share of the vote in the first round fell to 49.67 percent after a UN-backed watchdog deemed around a quarter of all votes cast to be fraudulent. Insisting that the fraud had been overstated, Karzai only agreed to a second round under extensive diplomatic pressure from Washington.

Abdullah won just over 30 percent of the vote in the first round, prompting some observers to point out that it would have been a colossal feat for Karzai's lone remaining challenger to win the race.

Afghanistan has been wracked by weeks of political uncertainty and security remains a major concern after a resurgent Taliban vowed to disrupt the presidential run-off.

Ahead of Sunday's announcement, some analysts and diplomats had suggested that Abdullah's withdrawal from the contest - as part of a power-sharing deal in return for a key government post in the next government - would spare the country further political turmoil.

svs/rb/AFP/Reuters

Editor: Rick Demarest