KABUL, AFGHANISTAN, AND ISTANBUL, TURKEY — Afghan officials on Thursday set Aug. 20 as the date for their nation's presidential election, starting the clock on a campaign that will be waged against the backdrop of an increasingly violent insurgency and rising domestic discontent.
President Hamid Karzai, installed in 2001 by the United States after the fundamentalist Taliban movement was toppled, and subsequently elected in 2004, is widely viewed as the front-runner, though he has not yet declared his candidacy. But the Afghan leader's popularity has plummeted in the last year, and his relationship with his onetime Western patrons has grown increasingly tense. Moreover, the full field of candidates is not yet known.
Karzai has an edge over those Afghan politicians who have declared their interest in running, but it is not known how he might fare if a well-known figure such as Zalmay Khalilzad -- the Afghan-born former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the United Nations -- were to enter the race.
The Afghan Constitution mandates that the election be held before Karzai's term expires May 22. But few had expected polling to take place on schedule because of the perilous security situation.
Voter registration is underway across the country, but has been hampered in areas where the Taliban movement is particularly strong, such as the southern provinces.
The Karzai camp had reportedly hoped for polling to take place in the autumn to give the president more time to woo voters, so an August date is not too far removed from its wished-for timetable.
Azizullah Lodin, who chairs the Independent Election Commission, told reporters in Kabul, the capital, that it was impossible to hold balloting before the end of Karzai's term. To avoid a power vacuum, lawmakers are expected to approve a temporary extension of his authority or appoint a caretaker government. Although some of his opponents complained about the delay, international bodies including the United Nations supported the timetable.
Up to 30,000 more U.S. troops are to arrive in coming months, with many of them to be deployed in the south and similar trouble spots. Lodin described that influx as a factor in deciding the timing of the balloting.
"Without security, there can be no election," he said.
