Afghan presidential candidates finish registration

A slew of political heavyweights, along with the Afghan president's brother and a number of former warlords, will take part in next year's elections for the country's top office in a critical vote that that could determine the future course of the country and the level of foreign involvement in Afghanistan after 12 years of war.
The candidacies ended weeks of speculation over who will aspire to replace President Hamid Karzai, who has essentially run the country since the October 7, 2001 invasion that ousted the Taliban. Karzai is not entitled to run for a third consecutive term in the April 5 elections, but is expected to back at least one of the candidates - his former Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul, despite the fact that his businessman brother Qayyum Karzai is also running for president.

The contenders are a mix of Afghanistan's past and current power players, including some warlords with a tainted history, a couple of technocrats and some complete political outsiders.
All, however, come from Afghan elite that has to one degree or another shaped the country over the past 12 years.
By the end of the day and after a mad scramble by candidates and hundreds of supporters and heavily armed bodyguards, about 20 presidential candidates had registered for the first independent vote organised by Afghanistan without direct foreign assistance.
The registration came on the eve of the 12th anniversary of the invasion, which led to an insurgency that shows no signs of abatement and a war that has become largely forgotten in the United States and among its coalition allies, despite continued casualties suffered by their forces on the ground.