KABUL, Aug 4: Afghan Defence Minister Mohammed Qasim Fahim vowed on Wednesday that he and several key ministers would oppose President Hamid Karzai and back his rival in the October 9 presidential elections.

Mr Fahim, a powerful warlord who is also the first vice- president in Karzai's interim government formed after the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001, said he would back rival candidate former education minister Yunus Qanooni.

"I told the president that if he plans to go to elections on his own, he would make a mistake, but he did it," Mr Fahim told a news conference. "I, the Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, and most ministers support Mr Qanooni's candidacy for the presidential post."

Mr Fahim's relations with Karzai were strained after the president denied him the ticket to stand for the post of vice-president. "He made us decide and have our own candidate," Mr Fahim said, claiming that a large number of Mujahideen (anti-Soviet "holy warriors"), members of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance and most of the ministers, would back Qanooni.

Officials say there are 22 presidential candidates but Qanooni is considered a serious challenger who enjoys the support of the ethnic Tajik dominated Northern Alliance.

Diplomats say Karzai was forced to drop Fahim from any future government amid pressure from the international community, including the United States, over accusations he was an obstacle to the president's efforts to disarm private militias ahead of the elections.

Mr Fahim reacted angrily to the allegations. "If this decision is made by Karzai himself then he knows what is best for his future," he said. "But if he has made it under foreign pressure then why he wants to be the president of Afghanistan, then it means there is another foreigner who is in control of Afghanistan," he added.

President Karzai has picked up Ahmed Zia, brother of late anti-Taliban commander and national hero Ahmad Shah Masood, as his first vice-president and Karim Khalili, an ethnic Hazara, as his second vice-president.

Mr Fahim claimed it was Zia's personal decision and he did not represent the Northern Alliance. "If Ahmed Zia has decided to run with Karzai as vice- president, it is his personal decision." -AFP