SHIBIRGHAN, Sept 26: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday made his first campaign trip outside Kabul since surviving a rocket attack earlier this month to meet warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam in northern Afghanistan.

Surrounded by a large contingent of burly US security guards wearing dark glasses President Karzai travelled by helicopter to Shibirghan in northern Afghanistan, a stronghold of Dostam, who is one of Karzai's 17 rivals in Oct 9 presidential polls.

With less than two weeks before the country's first presidential election, Mr Karzai made his first visit to northern Afghanistan since the start of the electoral campaign on Sept 7, after returning from New York where he addressed the United Nations last week.

Mr Karzai opened a road linking the town of Shiberghan in the northern province of Jawzjan, about 400 kilometers north of Kabul, with the province of Sari Pul, around 200 kilometers south of Shiberghan. But the road remained closed on Sunday due to security considerations, highlighting how difficult it is for Mr Karzai to move among the Afghan people. The beleaguered president was forced to abort his first campaign trip outside the Afghan capital after a rocket was fired at his helicopter on a trip to southern city of Gardez in Paktia province on Sept 16.

Meanwhile, Dostam who is known for violently crushing his opponents, pledged his support for the election and said that he was ready to disarm his militia forces and had held meetings with disarmament officials. -AFP