Karzai's brother endorses Abdullah in Afghan presidential runoff

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's elder brother Mahmud Karzai Monday announced his support for presidential hopeful Abdullah Abdullah in the runoff scheduled for June 14, media reported.

"Since I have realised that the programmes of Abdullah can create job opportunities, alleviate poverty and eventually take the country towards prosperity, today I am announcing my support to Abdullah and his team in the second round of the presidential elections," Xinhua quoted Mahmud Karzai as saying.

Abdullah, who challenged Hamid Karzai in the 2009 Afghan presidential election, is leading in the 2014 presidential polls by securing 45 percent of the votes, followed by Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai who bagged 31.6 percent.

Around seven million Afghans of some 12 million eligible voters cast their ballots in the April 5 presidential elections amid Taliban threats of violence to elect a successor to outgoing President Hamid Karzai who has been ruling the war-torn country since the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

The new president will lead the country for the next five years.

The runoff between Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah is slated for June 14 and the final results, according to the election commission, will be announced July 22 this year.