Karzai, Abdullah both claim victory in Afghan election

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai and top challenger Abdullah Abdullah positioned themselves on Friday as the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election, one day after millions of Afghans braved dozens of militant attacks to cast ballots.

Partial preliminary results won't be made public before Tuesday, as Afghanistan and the dozens of countries with troops and aid organizations in the country wait to see who will lead the troubled nation for the next five years.

Claims of early victory by Karzai and Abdullah were an attempt to win the expectations game, and officials with the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) said it was too early for any campaign to claim itself the winner. Counting at individual polling sites has been completed, but ballots are now being sent to Kabul, election officials said.