Abdullah Abdullah takes on Karzai

When Dr Abdullah Abdullah,the main election challenger to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai,arrived here to campaign.....

When Dr Abdullah Abdullah,the main election challenger to Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai,arrived here to campaign,thousands of supporters choked the six-mile drive from the airport. Young men wearing T-shirts emblazoned with his face leapt aboard his car to embrace him.

With only a month to go,Abdullah has started his campaign late,but in its first two weeks he has canvassed six provinces and drawn growing support and larger crowds than expected. Rapturous welcomes have elevated him to the status of potential future President.

I have no doubt that people want change, Abdullah said in an interview after a tumultuous day campaigning in Herat,adding that his momentum was just building.

Karzai is still widely considered the front-runner in the campaign for the August 20 presidential election. But Abdullah,who has the backing of the largest Opposition group,the National Front,is the one candidate among the field of 41 who has a chance of forcing Karzai into a runoff.

Already well known among most Afghans,Abdullah,48,an ophthalmologist,has a background that includes years of resistance to Soviet and Taliban rule as well as a crucial role in the formation of the new democratic Government after the US intervention.

Wearing traditional Afghan clothes under a variety of Western tailored jackets,he combines solidarity with the former resistance fighters with the moderation of the Afghan intellectual,giving him potentially broad appeal.

After serving as Foreign Minister under Karzai for five years,he left in 2006 and has become a strong critic of the Presidents leadership. Today,Abdullah is seen as part of a younger generation of Afghans keen to move away from the nations reliance on warlords and older mujahedeen leaders.

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Before several thousand people in Herats sports stadium,he raised the biggest cheer with his promise to build up Afghan institutions so that foreign troops could go home soon. He also promised to curb the corruption and review foreign assistance programmes to ensure that they focused on grassroots development and addressed poverty. He said he would work seriously toward reconciliation with the Taliban,calling the current process a joke.