New York: With less than a month left for
the August 20 Afghan presidential election, the war-ravaged
country's former Foreign Minister and Tajik leader, Abdullah
Abdullah, has emerged as a serious challenger to President
Hamid Karzai, who belongs to the majority Pashtun community.
While Karzai continues to be the front-runner, Abdullah
is one of the 41 candidates who can drag the incumbent into a
run-off, a contest between the top two vote-getters if no
candidate wins more than 50 per cent of the votes in the
first balloting, 'The New York Times' reported from Herat in
Afghanistan.
An ophthalmologist, 48-year-old Abdullah has the backing
of the National Front and is well known for his resistance to
the Soviet invasion and the Taliban.
"I have no doubt that people want change," Abdullah told
the paper. "Today they are hopeful that change can come."
Abdullah, who once served in the Karzai Government as the
country's Foreign Minister, is now one of the vocal critics of
the President ever since he left his Cabinet in 2006.
The August 20 poll is the second Afghan national
Presidential election.
Bureau Report
First Published: Friday, July 24, 2009, 13:22