Rival seeks to unite opponents of Karzai

MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan - A leading Afghan presidential candidate said Monday that he is trying to team up with other contenders to topple strongly favored interim President Hamid Karzai.

Details on the proposal by former Education Minister Yunus Qanooni weren't clear, however, and other candidates' representatives maintained they would stay in the race. But a unified bid is likely the only hope for a serious challenge by any of the 17 candidates challenging Karzai, who has ruled Afghanistan as Washington's hand-picked leader since the Taliban was forced from power in 2001.

Even a vote shared among the contenders could stop Karzai from winning a simple majority he would require Saturday to prevent a runoff election between the top two vote-getters.

Addressing several hundred supporters in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Qanooni said he was in talks with 14 other presidential candidates, including Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum and Hazara leader Mohammed Mohaqeq. He said he was hopeful they would eventually agree to back him.

"If we are able to introduce one candidate, we could win," Qanooni said in a rally in the city's Hazrat-e-Ali shrine, one of the holiest sites in Afghanistan.

Qanooni is regarded as Karzai's strongest challenger, backed by Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim and Foreign Minister Abdullah - all from the former Northern Alliance of ethnic Tajiks that pushed the Taliban from power with U.S. backing.

Representatives of Dostum and Mohaqeq, ethnic leaders believed to enjoy strong regional support, denied talk of a coalition.

"That is not true, we are campaigning independently and we are not in talks to join with anyone," said Mohaqeq spokesman Aziz Royesh, reached at a noisy campaign rally in the capital, Kabul. "Gen. Dostum has not supported any other candidate," said Sayed Noorullah Agha, Dostum's spokesman, also in Kabul.

Qanooni acknowledged the difficulty Monday of building a consensus among the factions and said they might only whittle the number of candidates down to two or three, but he expressed confidence their candidate would prevail even if the vote goes to a second round.

Meanwhile, U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad denied a widespread perception that he was working behind the scenes, urging candidates to drop out of the race and ease the way for Karzai. He acknowledged he had offered to act as go-between in negotiations between Karzai and Mohaqeq and would do so for other candidates if asked.

"Never have I said to someone that you should withdraw in favor of President Karzai," Khalilzad said.

International observers said they have teams in position to monitor the vote. The head of one of two European-based missions said they will not pass judgment on the war-battered nation's first attempt at democracy and noted it was unrealistic to expect a perfect vote.

"We are not going to say whether it is free and fair, or free, fair and flawed or whatever," said Ambassador Robert Barry, the head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe's election support team. "But we will be making recommendations which we hope will be useful."

In a clear swipe at Karzai, Qanooni told the crowd Monday that no single candidate had the explicit backing of the international community.

"They are supporting the poll of the people, they are not supporting a single candidate," he said, citing conversations he has had with diplomats and international officials.

Qanooni said Karzai himself had asked for his backing or withdrawal from the race, but Qanooni had rejected the suggestion after consulting with elders.

Campaigning in Mazar-e-Sharif has been subdued, as it has been across the country, with only a few rallies.

Attacks have surged ahead of the elections and remnants of the Taliban have vowed to disrupt the voting.

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