KABUL (PAN): In a massive show of support for President Hamid Karzai's reelection bid, thousands of people gathered at the sprawling Ghazi Stadium here on Friday.
The participants, including nearly 3,000 women, carried photographs of the incumbent president and his running mates Muhammad Qasim Fahim and Karim Khalili.
Some danced and chanted slogans in support of Karzai and his picks for vice-presidents. The huge stadium echoed with cheers and full-throated shouts in praise of the president as soon as he arrived at the venue.
Addressing the lively crowd, Karzai promised complete restoration of peace and stability if he won another five-year term in the upcoming elections, slated for August 20.
He called upon the participants, who pledged to vote for him, to send their children to school and lend weight to his efforts at bringing peace to Afghanistan, which continues to be in the grip of an unrelenting Taliban insurgency.
On the campaign trail, the president once again asked members of Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami Afghanistan (HIA), led by fugitive former prime minister Gulbadin Hekmatyar, to renounce violence and join the national mainstream.
Among others, several ministers, many tribal elders, religious scholars and government functionaries attended the mammoth public meeting, which reflecting increasing backing for the Indian-educated leader.
