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RIYADH: Afghan President Hamid Karzai held talks with Saudi King Abdullah as he sought support to negotiate peace with the Islamist Taliban rebels in his war-torn country. Karzai met with King Abdullah and senior officials in Riyadh at the king's Janadriyah farm outside Riyadh. "They discussed international efforts to achieve security and stability in Afghanistan as well as the prospects for cooperation between the two countries," local news agency reported. Karzai was believed to be seeking Saudi help to persuade Taliban leaders into reconciliation talks, as well as asking for more financial aid for his country. The meeting with King Abdullah came a week after Britain hosted a meeting of nearly 70 countries to discuss Afghanistan's problems and seek ways to end the war between the the Taliban and Kabul and its Western backers. Saudi Arabia agreed at the London conference to host a follow up meeting of Gulf and other donors to Afghanistan at the end of Febru...

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...

Wednesday, October 21, 2009 KABUL: President Hamid Karzai's chief political rival is agreeing to run in the Nov. 7 run-off election and says he'll be ready. Abdullah Abdullah told reporters Wednesday that he telephoned Karzai to thank him for agreeing to a second round ballot. It was Abdulllah's first public comment since Karzai bowed to U.S. and international pressure and accepted findings of a U.N.-backed panel that there had been massive fraud on his behalf in the Aug. 20 vote. Those findings showed Karzai failed to win the 50 percent required to avoid a run-off.