KABUL, Sep 11: Five days after the official start of Afghanistan's election campaign President Hamid Karzai on Saturday unveiled an election manifesto that was short on concrete details about his policies.

In a 20-minute speech the US-backed president, who faces 17 challengers in upcoming Oct 9 elections, said he would build a "prosperous and dignified Afghanistan".

Widely seen as the favourite to win the country's historic first presidential elections, President Karzai gave little in the way of detail.

Mr Karzai said he would "strengthen the overall security and government, balanced economic development and accelerate the reconstruction process", if elected.-AFP