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KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai was declared winner of the country's second election Monday by the country's electoral commission after it decided to scrap a planned run-off ballot."We declare that Mr Hamid Karzai, who won the majority of votes in the first round, and is the only candidate in the second round, is the elected president of Afghanistan," Independent Election Commission chairman Azizullah Ludin said.The move comes one day after Karzai's only challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, announced that he would not participate in the November 7 poll for fear of a repeat of widespread fraud which marred the first round in August.Ludin said the move had been made in line with the provisions of the Afghan electoral law and constitution and "consistent with the high interest of the Afghan people".The IEC chief said that the commission was also taking its decision in order to save money, citing "the huge expense that the electi...

Thursday, August 27, 2009 WASHINGTON: The United States has deplored the terrorist attack in Kandahar and expressed confidence that such acts would not deter Afghanistan's progress. "We deplore these acts of violence. We know that there was a great loss of life in the bombings, and our sympathies go out to the victims' families," the State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters yesterday."We do not think that Afghanistan will be deterred from the path that it's on towards developing into a democratic society and a prosperous economy," Kelly said.Responding to a question, the spokesman said Afghanistan is a high priority for the Obama administration. Its aim is to help people of Afghanistan build its democratic process, and help it become an economically viable and prosperous society."We want to try and enable the Afghan Government to take responsibility not only for its reconstruction, but also for its own security," he said, adding ...

WASHINGTON: Reports of fraud and intimidation in Afghanistan's presidential election continued to mount Saturday, with anecdotal, but widespread accounts of ballot-box stuffing, a lack of impartiality among election workers and voters casting ballots for others.Director Jandad Spinger, Foundation for free and transparent elections in Afghanistan said that over 7000 observers of his group told that the ballot boxes were already stuffed, while bogus voting and other irregularities continued.US newspaper said that European groups have also pointed out many discrepancies, while in several provinces the polling stations remained shut fearing violence. Karzai government has denied any sort of fraud committed in the elections.