Afghan President Hamid Karzai formally registered Monday to stand for re-election in August but sparked international dismay by picking a controversial warlord as one of his two running mates. Karzai signed up for the August 20 poll at the offices of the Independent Election Commission along with Mohammad Qasim Fahim, a key figure from the 1990s civil war, and current Vice-President Karim Khalili.
Karzai, who first took office in late 2001 after the US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime and won the country's first presidential vote in 2004, said his leadership experience made him a good candidate for another term. "We will be making mistakes again, like in the past, but our aim is to serve the Afghan nation," he said in a brief address to journalists. UN officials, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, expressed "dismay" at Fahim's inclusion.
Prominent parliamentarian Shukria Barakzai said it gave out an impression of Afghanistan as being unable to break from its past of warlordism. Fahim is a Tajik, the second-largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, and Khalili a Hazara. Karzai hails from an influential tribe in the Pashtun community, the largest ethnic group. Khalili, who has been Karzai's deputy for nearly seven years, is also a former warlord from the Wahdat Islami (Islamic Unity) faction of Hazaras that was accused of murder, torture and other abuses during the civil war.
Potential rival candidates who could pose a serious threat to Karzai's bid for re-election have yet officially to throw their names into the ring ahead of the May 8 deadline for registration. All applicants will be vetted. Convictions for crime and rights abuses are among the grounds for exclusion.