Karzai closer to outright victory

AFGHANISTAN: 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 Najafi, chief electoral officer at the Independent Election Commission (IEC), told a news conference.

The figures gave Karzai 46.3 percent of votes announced and Abdullah 31.4 percent, widening the incumbent's previous lead of around nine percent and apparently increasing his prospects of avoiding a second round.

Kabul, Sunday, AFP