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KABUL, Afghanistan - Afghanistan's historic election campaign got under way Tuesday, pitting 17 hopefuls against interim leader Hamid Karzai in the race to become the impoverished country's first popularly elected president.
The U.S.-backed incumbent inaugurated a rare new factory and promised to help Afghans out of poverty, while the lone female challenger wowed widows with a tirade against warlords.
But fresh battles with militants in the south that killed at least seven people underlined the danger that violence could mar a contest supposed to cement the country's recovery since the ouster of the ruling Taliban militia in 2001.
Karzai and his challengers have 30 days to try to impress the roughly 10.6-million Afghans registered to vote. But the start of the campaign was low key.
Still, Massooda Jalal, the female candidate, won an enthusiastic endorsement for the Oct. 9 vote from widows at a bakery near the capital's war-damaged zoo.
"Those people who betrayed you and destroyed your homes and who killed your loved ones, they have no place in my government," the former U.N. worker told about 50 women dressed in head-to-toe veils under a tree in the yard.
Karzai, whose dashing profile in the West has helped raise billions of dollars in aid pledges, remains the favorite. Still, the bewildering range of candidates and the country's deep ethnic divides could split the vote widely and force him into a runoff.
The president cut a ribbon to inaugurate a $10-million cooking oil plant in the capital - an event dovetailing with his pledge to raise living standards.
He urged more investors to create jobs and wealth, and told Afghans to buy home-produced goods. He didn't mention the election directly.
"The quality should be competitive with Pakistan, Iran, Uzbekistan and other countries in the region, even with America," he told some 500 dignitaries in a tent outside the factory. "One day I hope we can make car engines."
Karzai will announce his manifesto in the coming days, his campaign spokesman said. But it was unclear how much concerns for his safety will allow to him to stump for votes around the country.
Muscular bodyguards from a U.S. firm targeted by an Aug. 29 car bomb in Kabul watched his every move Tuesday.
Spokesman Hamed Elmi said Karzai would visit the provinces, but added that much of the traveling would be done by his two deputies. He also said Karzai was open to the idea of a media-moderated debate with his rivals.
A dozen election workers have been killed in shootings and bombings during voter registration, and the capital is on edge after the car bombing, which killed at least seven people.
The Taliban was thought to be responsible for the attack.