Afghan President Hamid Karzai official candidate in 2009 election

Article published on the 2009-05-04 Latest update 2009-05-04 11:11 TU

Afghan President Hamid Karzai (C) stands between his running mates, former vice president Mohammad Qasim Fahim (L) and current vice president Karim Khalili.
Photo: REUTERS/Ahmad Masood

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai is meeting President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zadari and US president Barack Obama for talks in Washington on fighting islamist militancy. Before flying out of Kabul, Karzai registered officially as a candidatefor elections due in August.

Karzai signed up 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.

His choice of Fahim as one of his two would-be vice presidents was a surprise considering allegations of rights abuses against him.

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. He cooperated with a post-Taliban disarmament process and dissolved his militias.

Fahim is also said to have disarmed, but has been accused of  stockpiling weapons in the Panjshir Valley, the former base of the Northern Alliance's anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban resistance, north of Kabul.

Karzai, first took office in late 2001 after the US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime. He went on to win the country's first presidential vote in 2004. He said, "we will be making mistakes again, like in the past, but our aim is to serve the Afghan nation"

The deadline for candidates' registration is 8 May.