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Hamid Karzai Formally Nominated to Lead Afghanistan
Thursday, June 13, 2002
(12:54 PM ET)
By Colleen Barry
Associated Press Writer

An Afghan soldier carries a portrait of interim Afghan leader Hamid Karzai on Wednesday, June 12, 2002, in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
Image Credit: Eugene Hoshiko -- The Associated Press.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- AP
Interim leader Hamid Karzai, widely praised for his reconciliation efforts during six months in power, was formally elected Thursday as Afghanistan's head of state.

Ismail Qasim Yar, head of the loya jirga commission, or grand council, announced that Karzai won 1,295 votes. Masooda Jalal, who worked for the United Nations food program and the only female candidate, received 171 votes and Mir Mohammed Mahfoz Nadai received 89.

A fourth candidate, Glam Fareq Majidi, was disqualified before the vote because he garnered only 101 signatures of support.

"We announce him as the president of the coming interim government," Qasimyar said of Karzai.

Karzai received a thunderous applause when the announcement was made placing him at the top of the Afghan administration for the next 18 months while parliamentary elections are organized.
(The Nando Times News Source)
2002 © The Associated Press.

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