Issues remain a factor as runoff election nears in capital city

KABUL — President Hamid Karzai’s challenger plans to call for a boycott of next weekend’s runoff election, hoping to force a delay until spring to allow time to organize a fair vote, his campaign manager said Saturday.

In the meantime, ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah wants an interim government to run the country, Satar Murad told The Associated Press.

Abdullah has called a press conference for 10 a.m. Sunday to announce his final decision after Afghans and Westerners close to the challenger said he would withdraw from the second round scheduled for Nov. 7. His campaign manager said the candidate might still change his mind, but that “as of now” he planned to call for a boycott.

That decision came after Karzai rejected a series of Abdullah’s demands, including removal of the top three election officials allegedly linked to widespread fraud in the Aug. 20 balloting.

A clouded electoral picture would further complicate the Obama administration’s efforts to decide whether to send tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan to battle the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies.

The White House has been waiting for a new government in Kabul to announce a decision, but the war has intensified in the meantime. October was the deadliest month of the war for U.S. forces with at least 57 American deaths.

Western officials hoped that Abdullah would make a gracious exit for the good of the country rather than denounce Karzai for fraud, a move that could sharpen tensions at a time the United States and its allies are seeking unity against the Taliban.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton downplayed the prospect of an Abdullah withdrawal, saying it would not undermine the legitimacy of the election.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election,” Clinton told reporters in Abu Dhabi. “It’s a personal choice which may or may not be made.”

Last-minute contacts were under way late Saturday between representatives of Karzai and Abdullah to resolve the crisis, and the challenger’s spokesman Fazel Sancharaki insisted no final decision on a withdrawal had been made.

It appeared the uncertainty was aimed in part at allowing Abdullah to keep his options open until the last possible moment.

Late Saturday, Murad said, “I don’t know what will happen tomorrow morning.”

Murad said that the boycott should force a delay in the runoff until the spring.

“We understand it shouldn’t go forward, and there should be an interim government immediately after the 7th or 8th of November,” Murad said.