Candidate for Afghan Presidency Confident of Victory
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metrokom/Thinkstock(KABUL, Afghanistan) — Afghanistan’s presidential election is Saturday, April 5, and 2009 runner-up Abdullah Abdullah thinks he’s going to be the successor to Hamid Karzai.
In an interview last week, Abdullah said he believes he’ll get enough of the popular vote in the crowded field of candidates to avoid a run-off.
It was five years ago that Abdullah, a former Afghan foreign minister, was set to face Karzai in a run-off following the hotly contested election in which accusations of voter fraud were leveled at the incumbent president. However, Abdullah backed out of the run-off, handing the election to Karzai.
Unlike the current president, who was constitutionally banned from running a third time, Abdullah supports a Bilateral Security Agreement that would keep a residual force of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan following the planned pullout of most coalition soldiers by the end of 2014.
The post-war pact also guarantees billions of dollars in pledges for Afghanistan by foreign governments.
Abdullah has promised to sign the BSA “within a month” of winning the election.
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