Afghan election officials say workers are recounting some of theballots from the disputed August 20 presidential election and shouldbe ready to formally declare a winner by late next week.
An Afghan Election Commission worker shows a partly blank information sheet of a ballot box during the recounting possess as agents of presidential candidates (right) observe in Kabul, Afghanistan, 05 Oct 2009Controversysurrounds the poll with allegations of rampant fraud and vote-rigging.Independent monitors have said one-third of all ballots are suspicious.Unofficial tallies indicate President Hamid Karzai leads with about 54percent of the vote. If his lead dips below 50 percent, he could facetop challenger Abdullah Abdullah in a runoff.
The deputydirector of the Afghan election commission told reporters Monday thatthe recount should take a few days and final results should be ready bythe end of next week.
The contentious vote count comes as the Obama administration is conducting a broad review of the overall war strategy.
SinceSaturday, 10 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan, includingeight who perished in an assault by hundreds of militant fighters ontwo outposts in rural Nuristan province.
The assault was the deadliest against U.S. forces in months.
OnMonday, NATO officials in Afghanistan said Afghan and internationalforces detained a number of suspected militants in three separateoperations.
The International Security Assistance Force saystroops made the arrests after searching compounds northeast of KhostCity, buildings west of Kandahar City, and buildings in the Saydabaddistrict of Wardak province.
The joint forces also conductedtwo separate searches on Sunday in the Gelan district of Ghazniprovince, and in the Saydabad district of Wardak province.
NATO says no Afghan civilians were injured during the operations.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.
