President Hamid Karzai has taken key steps to reform Afghanistan's electoral system, naming a respected former judge to head an organising body and ending his bid to exclude international representatives from a fraud-monitoring group.

AFGHANISTAN’S election commission proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the victor of the country’s tumultuous ballot yesterday, cancelling a planned runoff and ending a political crisis two-and-a-half months after a fraud-marred first round.

Talks between Afghanistan’s president Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah have broken down and Mr Abdullah is likely to pull out of next week’s presidential run-off, a source said today.

AFGHANISTAN will postpone its presidential election until August 20, some four months later than the Constitution specifies, to give incoming US forces more time to stabilise the country’s most violent regions, the national election commission said yesterday.

American troops in Afghanistan have found two warehouses filled with a staggering arsenal believed to belong to a maverick Afghan commander, the military said today.