KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) There is a lot riding on Afghanistan's 2014 presidential elections, which will determine who steers the country through the persistent insurgency as international troops leave. But potential voters lining up to register have other concerns as well: They deeply distrust the candidates and are worried their next president could be a warlord.
The 11 presidential hopefuls in the April 5 vote are a mixed bag. They include Ashraf Ghani, an economist and former World Bank official as well as Abdur Rasool Sayyaf, a friend of Osama bin Laden's and the inspiration for the Indonesian terrorist group Abu Sayyaf.
Also among those running are: President Hamid Karzai's brother, a former foreign minister, a former defense minister, a former provincial governor and even the former lieutenant of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a wanted terrorist.
Barred by the Afghan constitution from seeking another term, Karzai is not in the running. His successor will lead a hoped-for transition from war to peace as international troops leave, even as the insurgency rages in the east and south of the country. A first priority will be to work out a complex deal with Washington over keeping U.S. trainers for the Afghan military, a task Karzai has left to the next president.
Afghans also worry the voting will see the same alleged widespread fraud that tainted the last presidential elections, in 2009, when Karzai won a second term emblematic of corruption that is a top complaint for many in the country.