Warlords and Presidential Politics

According to Ahmed Zia Masood, Afghanistan's ambassador to Russia, prominent Afghan warlords have decided to support Burhanuddin Rabbani against Hamid Karzai in the 2004 Presidential elections. Rabbani was a top anti-communist leader and the last President before the Taliban captured Kabul in 1996. Perhaps ominously, during the 1980's Rabbani scuttled a temporary accord among mujahadeen factions by refusing to leave office as part of a power-sharing agreement. Maybe I'm being paranoid here, but I think actually holding elections in Afghanistan will only be half the battle...the key test will be what happens afterward.