Afghan officials move to deal with protests

Election organisers are creating an independent panel to investigate whether Afghanistan’s first-ever presidential vote was marred by fraud, hoping to end an opposition boycott that could seriously undermine the winner’s ability to rule this war-ravaged nation.

International officials and the man heavily favoured to win the election - US-backed interim President Hamid Karzai – are urging all of the 15 other candidates to accept the outcome of the weekend election despite claims that the ink marks used to prevent multiple voting were flawed.