Afghanistan presidential campaign opens, marred by violence

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http://www.latimes.com/world/worldnow/la-fg-wn-afghanistan-presidential-campaign-violence-20140202,0,3912152.story



Afghans erect an election poster of presidential election candidate Abdullah Abdullah in Kabul on Sunday as campaigning officially opened.

Afghanistan presidential campaign opens, marred by violence
By Hashmat Baktash
February 2, 2014, 9:57 a.m.

KABUL, Afghanistan — The campaign to succeed Afghan President Hamid Karzai officially began Sunday amid deep uncertainty about the prospects for a peaceful election after two aides to a leading candidate were killed in the normally peaceful western city of Herat.

The aides to Abdullah Abdullah, a prominent opposition politician who was runner-up to Karzai in the disputed 2009 election, were shot and killed by unknown gunmen outside a campaign office where they had just concluded a meeting Saturday evening, officials in Herat said.

The killings cast an immediate shadow over the campaign for the April 5 election, a crucial test of the Afghan government’s ability to manage a stable transfer of political power as U.S.-led NATO troops prepare to withdraw from Afghanistan by the end of the year.

Eleven candidates are running to replace Karzai, who has led Afghanistan for 13 years but has clashed bitterly with his American backers in recent months. Karzai, who is barred by law from seeking another term, has accused the U.S. government of trying to undermine Afghan institutions and delayed signing a bilateral security pact that could see some U.S. forces remain in Afghanistan past 2014 to conduct military training and counterterrorism operations.