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Sunday, August 30, 2009 KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday inched closer to the prospect of outright victory in elections marred by allegations of massive fraud and international concerns about their credibility. Officials have now announced results from 35 percent of polling stations in the second ever direct presidential vote in a country dogged by a Taliban insurgency, eight years after the US-led invasion. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, on a lightning visit to the troubled south, pledged to speed up training Afghan security forces in order to battle the insurgency and eventually draw down international troops. As Brown visited Helmand province, an explosion killed a British soldier who was on foot patrol in the province, raising to 208 the number of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, British officials said. Out of 2.03 million valid votes counted, Karzai won 940,558 and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah 638,924, Daud Ali Naja...

Friday, August 21, 2009 KABUL: President Hamid Karzai's campaign manager claimed victory on Friday in the country's presidential election, saying preliminary results showed there would be no need for a second round run-off. "Initial results show that the president has got a majority," Deen Mohammad told foreign news agency, although he said it was the duty of the election commission to announce the official results. "We will not got to a second round. We have got a majority." Mohammad said the estimate of victory was based on reports from nearly 29,000 monitors the campaign had at polling stations throughout the country. However, a spokesman for his chief rival, Abdullah Abdullah, dismissed the claim. Official preliminary results are not due for two weeks, but counting began immediately after polls closed on Thursday, and the 6,200 polling stations are required to post their results as they tabulate them. Polls conducted before the election showed Karzai in ...

Tuesday, August 18, 2009 WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that the United States was impartial in Afghanistan's upcoming election and was ready to work with whomever voters pick.Afghanistan on Thursday heads to the polls in its second-ever presidential election, which comes as the new US administration pours more troops in the country in hopes of bringing stability and rooting out Islamic extremists."The United States of America remains impartial in this election," Clinton said in a statement."Like the Afghan people we want to see credible, secure and inclusive elections that all will judge legitimate," she said, adding: "We look forward to working with whomever the Afghan people select as their leaders for the next five years."While predicting challenges ahead, she said: "The Afghan people should be commended for their courage in conducting this election despite the stresses of wartime, and we and the international commu...