Afghan Opposition May Boycott Runoff Election KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (Associated Press) - Two people familiar with the discussions say Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah plans to boycott next week's runoff against incumbent Hamid Karzai.

A person close to Abdullah says the boycott decision came after a contentious and fruitless meeting on how to fix the country's electoral crisis. A Karzai spokesman says "there was some negotiation," but didn't have details.

A spokesman for Abdullah, however, says no final decision has been made. It's possible word leaking is a negotiating tactic.

The former foreign minister has put forward several conditions for the Nov. 7 runoff to avoid the massive fraud of the August vote. He set a Saturday deadline for the demands to be met.

The Afghan election commission says a boycott wouldn't prevent the runoff from going forward. Karzai is widely expected to win.
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