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Abdullah says open to talks after Afghan election official quits

Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah said on Monday he may end his boycott of the election vote count following the resignation of a senior official accused of fraud.

“Now the door is open for us to talk to the (election) commission and talk about the conditions and circumstances that will help the process,” Abdullah told reporters in Kabul.

Chief electoral officer Zia ul-Haq Amarkhail has resigned in a bid to resolve a political crisis over allegations of massive fraud in the runoff presidential vote earlier this month.

He told reporters on Monday that he denies any involvement in fraud but he is stepping down “for the national interest.”

One of the two candidates, Abdullah Abdullah has said his campaign monitors had recorded ballot box stuffing and other irregularities. He suspended cooperation with the vote counting process and demanded Amarkhail be suspended. The crisis has threatened what Western officials had hoped would be a peaceful transfer of authority.

Meanwhile, an Afghan official said the Taleban had released 33 university professors and students abducted nearly two weeks ago in the country’s east.

Mohammad Ali Ahmadi, the deputy governor of Ghazni province, said the hostages were released overnight and early on Monday, following mediation by tribal elders in the region and the staff from the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Ghazni.

Ahmadi said the 33, most of whom are professors at the Kandahar university, were on their way to Afghan capital Kabul earlier this month when their bus was stopped by the Taleban in the province’s Qarabagh district.

The Taleban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, confirmed the release of the 33 in a statement to media. He didn’t say if a ransom was involved or provide details.