Leading candidates in Afghan presidential election

KABUL, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- The war-weary people in the post-Taliban Afghanistan are going to polling stations on Aug. 20 to elect the country's second president after three decades of war. Following are key candidates in the race: 　

Hamid Karzai 　

Karzai, ethnic Pashtun, was born in Kandahar, south Afghanistan,on Dec. 34, 1957. He obtained master's degree in Political Science from Simla University of India in 1976.

In 1992, Karzai was appointed as Deputy Foreign Minister in Mujahidin administration after the fall of Moscow-backed regime inKabul. After a few months, he resigned and worked for organizing a traditional Afghan Loya Jirga or Grand Assembly to establish durable peace in the country.

In December 2001, immediately after the fall of Taliban regime, Karzai was chosen as president of provisional administration, and in June 2002, he was chosen as head of transitional government.

In the first election after Taliban regime in 2004, Karzai bagged more than 54 percent of the votes and took oath as the first elected president of Afghanistan on Dec. 7, 2004 and since then he has been ruling the country. Polls say Karzai could win at least 44 percent of the electorates.