By Golnar Motevalli

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s election rival Abdullah Abdullah canceled a planned trip to India on Saturday, his advisers said, heightening speculation he would pull out of next week’s disputed run-off vote.

Afghanistan has been racked by weeks of political uncertainty after widespread fraud marred the first round, with security another major concern after a resurgent Taliban vowed to disrupt the November 7 run-off vote.

With Afghanistan’s political future hanging in the balance, U.S. President Barack Obama is also weighing whether to send thousands more troops to Afghanistan. Obama met U.S. military leaders in Washington on Friday as part of a strategy review.

Abdullah, Karzai’s former foreign minister, had been due to leave for India on Saturday. He had also given Karzai a deadline of Saturday to sack Afghanistan’s top election official. Aides said he would likely hold a media conference in Kabul on Sunday.

“He is staying because of the election,” Abdullah’s spokesman Ali Farhad Howaida said. Other aides would not confirm or deny whether Abdullah would outline his plans at Sunday’s briefing.

“He will give his opinion on the election,” said Fazel Sancharaki, another Abdullah spokesman.

Western officials have pointed out that Abdullah has not opened any campaign offices in Afghanistan since the run-off was called last week. Neither candidate has campaigned openly.

“The signs are there. (Abdullah’s) not doing any campaigning. Everyone is looking at the two camps and willing them to do some form of accommodation that will avoid a run-off,” one Western diplomat, who asked not to be identified, told Reuters.

POWER-SHARING?

Talk of a possible power-sharing deal between Karzai and Abdullah has also grown as a possible solution to the deadlock.

The U.S. embassy in Kabul said it was a matter for Karzai and Abdullah to decide if they could come up with a constitutionally sound solution that was acceptable to Afghans.

Western diplomats have said privately Abdullah may have overplayed his hand with last week’s ultimatum to Karzai, which included a demand to sack three ministers in a bid to avoid a repeat of the first-round fraud.

Karzai has already indicated he would not give in to Abdullah’s demand. Abdullah has not said what he would do if the officials were not sacked.

Citing an unidentified Western source it said was close to the Afghan leadership, CNN reported on Friday that talks between Karzai and Abdullah had broken down and that Abdullah would likely pull out.

Neither Karzai nor Abdullah would comment on those meetings but behind-the-scenes diplomatic efforts to convince them to work together to break the deadlock increased this week.  Continued…