Key test as Afghan campaign begins

[Khephra]

KABUL, Afghanistan (Reuters) -- The official month-long campaign for Afghanistan's first-ever direct presidential election has opened Tuesday in what will be a major test of U.S.-led nation-building efforts since the 2001 ousting of the Taliban.

Incumbent President Hamid Karzai, who has the strong backing of the United States and the West, is seen as favorite to win the October 9 poll, but rivals may force him into a run-off.

Taliban guerrillas have vowed to disrupt the U.N.-sponsored polls, which U.S. President George W. Bush hopes to see go smoothly ahead of his own election show-down in early November.

Bush sent U.S. forces into Afghanistan in 2001 to overthrow the hardline Islamic Taliban regime after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the September 11 attacks.

http://edition.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/09/06/afghanistan.campaign.reut/index.html