Karzai registers for re-election

President Hamid Karzai has registered as a candidate for Afghanistan’s August presidential election.

Karzai says he wants to run again “to be at the service of the Afghan people”, though he acknowledged that there have been “some mistakes” during his five-year term as president.

Karzai is running for a second five-year term in the country’s August 20 vote. Though dozens of Afghan politicians and leaders have signalled interest in running, no candidate who would strongly challenge Karzai has yet filed papers.

Karzai did make one major change to his ticket, registering former interim Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim again as one of his two vice-presidential choices, kicking current Vice President Ahmad Zia Massood off his ticket.