Afghans announce 18 contenders for landmark election

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Eighteen Afghans, including current president Hamid Karzai and a number of warlords, will compete in the country's first presidential election, officials announced Tuesday, setting the field for the violence-threatened vote.

Several warlords who have drawn complaints for alleged human rights abuses or links to militias are being allowed to run in the first national vote since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, said Zakim Shah, head of the joint U.N.-Afghan electoral commission.

During a ceremony in a theater at Afghanistan's rundown television studios, Shah said 18 candidates were being allowed to run. The candidates drew lots to determine their position on the ballot. U.S.-backed Karzai is considered the frontrunner in the race.

Three warlords drew a large proportion of the 115 complaints submited by citizens and organizations about the candidates. The three were Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum, Karzai's Shiite running mate Karim Khalili and another Shiite leader, Mohammed Mohaqeq.

Shah said the objections ranged from accusations of murder and theft to human rights abuses and links to militias.

Afghan militias have resisted efforts to disarm them, raising concern among U.N. officials that intimidation, as well as attacks by Taliban militants, could mar the elections.

Both Mohaqeq and Khalili were commanders of the Shia-dominated Hezb-e Wahdat faction, while Dostum is close to the Uzbek-led Jumbesh-e Milli. All led forces against the Taliban.

Explaining the decision to let them run, Shah said the Defense Ministry had pledged to appoint "new, professional commanders" to several units at the center of the complaints and that the candidates "promised they have no such links."

Dostum was absent from Tuesday's gathering, but Mohaqaq was enfuriated when Shah pointed to him as having numerous complaints. As he left the center, Mohaqeq upbraided commission members under the nervous gaze of U.N. and government observers.

Insisting he had seen the documents cited by Shah, Mohaqeq said there was just one complaint against him but that "Karzai had 50."

"Why didn't you mention Karzai's name? It is not fair," he told the grimacing Shah before climbing into an aging black Cadillac and leaving.

Twenty-two candidates initially came forward to compete in the election, but several lesser-known figures either withdrew or broke rules that include a ban on dual citizenship, Shah said.