KABUL (AP) -- President Hamid Karzai appears the favorite in Thursday's presidential election in Afghanistan, although a late surge by his chief rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, could force a runoff if none of nearly 40 candidates wins a majority. Karzai's alliances with regional powerbrokers and his origins as a Pashtun, the biggest Afghan ethnic community, have placed him in a strong position despite widespread public dissatisfaction with the government. (26 images)
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Afghan boys walk with their donkeys carrying ballot boxes to the remote areas in Baba Ali village, Dara district in Panjshir province, north of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 17. Afghan officials dispatched donkey trains into mountains laden with ballot boxes and voting papers, taking material for landmark elections to the most remote communities. The mules were loaded with plastic chairs, desks, dozens of sealed-off white plastic ballot boxes, 600 ballot papers for the August 20 presidential election and another 600 ballot papers for concurrent provincial election. AP / Rafiq Maqbool
A worker loads election materials at the Independent Election Commission compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, to trucks headed to polling stations, Sunday, Aug. 16. AP / Dima Gavrysh
Workers load election ballots at the Independent Election Commission compound in Kabul, Afghanistan, to trucks headed to polling stations, Sunday, Aug. 16. AP / Dima Gavrysh
Afghan men unload election supplies at a polling station in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 17. AP / Farzana Wahidy
Villagers unload election supplies from a truck in the rugged mountains of the Panjshir valley on August 17. AFP / Getty Images / Shah Marai
An Afghan girl listens to the speech of Afghan presidential candidate and current President Hamid Karzai on television during the presidential candidates' live debate in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Aug. 16. AP / Farzana Wahidy
Afghans string a line of election posters of presidential candidate and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai inside a tent during an election campaign rally in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 17. AP / Rahmat Gul
An Afghan youth wears a T- shirt with a photo of incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is likely to win a second five-year term in the upcoming presidential election, during a press conference by Mohammad Hakim Tursun, Yassin Safi and Mohammad Nassir Aness who announced their retirement from the race and support for Karzai in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 17. AP / Musadeq Sadeq
General Abdul Rashid Dostum, center in gray turban, leader of Afghanistan's Uzbek community arrives at the Kabul international airport, Sunday, Aug. 16. A powerful and controversial Afghan warlord who has been in exile in Turkey returned to Kabul late Sunday in an apparent pre-election move by President Hamid Karzai to help attract ethnic Uzbek voters when the country votes for president this Thursday. AP / Dima Gavrysh
Afghan men use mobile phone cameras to take pictures of presidential candidate and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai during an election campaign stop in Kandahar, Afghanistan Saturday Aug. 15. AP / David Guttenfelder
Forozan Fana, one of only two Afghan female presidential candidates, poses for a portrait while two of her guards holds a black background during her election campaign in the Women's Garden in Kabul, Afghanistan, Friday, Aug. 14. AP / Farzana Wahidy
Afghan presidential candidate and former foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah waves to supporters as he campaigns during a campaign stop in his heartland province of Takhar on August 9, in Taloqan, Afghanistan. Getty Images / Daniel Berehulak
Supporters of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah gather to hear him deliver a campaign speech at a stadium in Kabul, Afghanistan Monday, Aug. 17. AP / David Guttenfelder
Supporters of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah arrive at an electoral rally in Kabul on August 17, during the last day of campaigning for key elections overshadowed by Taliban threats. AFP / Getty Images / Pedro Ugarte
Supporters of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, seen in photo at center, rush to a campaign rally at Kabul's National Stadium, in Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 17. AP / Dima Gavrysh
A security officer stands guard at a campaign rally for Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah at Kabul's National Stadium, Monday, Aug. 17. AP / Dima Gavrysh
Supporters of presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, seen in poster at right, attend a campaign rally in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, Aug. 17. AP / Saurabh Das
Supporters of Afghan presidential candidate and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah listen to his speech during his election campaign rally in Langar Kher village in the Hesarak district of Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Saturday, Aug. 15. AP / Rafiq Maqbool
Afghan presidential candidate and current President Hamid Karzai, waves to his female supporters while arriving to a campaign rally in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 13. AP / Farzana Wahidy
An Afghan man shields himself from dust behind a billboard of incumbent president Hamid Karzai, one of 41 registered presidential election candidates, in Kabul on August 13. AFP / Getty Images / Pedro Ugarte
Afghan laborers work next to a wall adorned with electoral posters in a street of Kabul on August 13. AFP / Getty Images / Shah Marai
Supporter of Afghan presidential candidate Ramazan Bashardost hold an Afghan national flag on a motorcycle while following the convoy of Bashardost after his arrival in in the western city of Herat on August 15. AFP / Getty Images / Behrouz Mehri
A shopkeeper looks on as Spc. Michael Riley, 37, of Las Vegas, Nev., of the U.S. Army's 1st Platoon Apache Company of 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., removes a notice posted by the Taliban threatening anyone who votes in the Aug. 20 presidential elections in the village of Juy Zurin in Afghanistan's Wardak Province Monday, Aug.17.
AP / David Goldman
Private 2nd Class Richard Lawrence, 20, left, of Lancaster, Pa., and Staff Sgt. Stephen Barnes, 26, of Dayton, Ohio, of the U.S. Army's 1st Platoon Apache Company of 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., inspect a potential polling site for the Aug. 20 presidential elections in the village of Wersek in Afghanistan's Wardak Province Monday, Aug.17. AP / David Goldman
Staff Sgt. Cody Anderson, 24, center, of Alpena, Mich., of the U.S. Army's 1st Platoon Apache Company of 2nd Battalion 87th Infantry Regiment, part of the 3rd Combat Brigade 10th Mountain Division based out of Fort Drum, N.Y., questions village elders about notices posted by the Taliban threatening anyone who votes in the Aug. 20 presidential elections in the village of Juy Zurin in Afghanistan's Wardak Province Monday, Aug. 17. AP / David Goldman
A French soldier waves to Afghan civillians from a patrol vehicle during a tour of an area around what will be a polling station in Deh Rawod, in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan on August 17. AFP / Getty Images / Pascal Guyot
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