KABUL, Afghanistan — Hamid Karzai became Afghanistan's president thanks to American patronage and his skills as a unifier.
It helped that he left exile in Pakistan three years ago for southern Afghanistan with a guerrilla force that fought alongside U.S. troops. Soon after the Taliban regime was ousted in December 2001, Washington pushed to install Karzai as interim prime minister. Six months later, the U.S. pressed for his subsequent selection as interim president.
In Saturday's presidential election, Karzai hopes to secure more legitimacy by winning a popular mandate, which might give him the power to rein in warlords, halt widespread opium cultivation and set the country more firmly on a path to democracy and development.
But to win votes, Karzai has had to rely on bargaining and other time-honored Afghan tribal customs. For weeks, the president and members of his family have been receiving delegations of tribal leaders, dressed in turbans, long robes and flowing beards, who show up on designated days at the presidential palace near the center of Kabul.
Like Karzai, many are Pushtuns, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group. Arriving dozens at a time, they walk into the compound in the capital for meetings at which they pledge their followers' votes to Karzai, with an unspoken understanding that the loyalty will be recorded and remembered by the president, said a diplomat familiar with the process.
When they return home, their followers are directed to fill out ballots to support the president as a matter of honor and tribal loyalty. Most are expected to comply, even though the balloting is supposed to be private and in secret.
More than 10 million people, including 4 million women previously barred from public life, have registered for the historic election that is scheduled to take place under joint U.N. and Afghan sponsorship. There have been no credible preelection polls, but most observers believe that Karzai will win handily.
Today, the country enters a quiet period of no campaigning, with U.S., multinational forces and the new Afghan army and police on high alert for attacks by militants who want to disrupt the polling.
At least some of the 18 presidential candidates were considering entering into last-minute deals to throw support either to Karzai or his chief rival, former Education Minister Younis Qanooni, in exchange for future government posts.
