The helicopter went down at high altitude in
an area of rugged Badakhshan province known as the Wakhan corridor, which
borders China, Tajikistan and Pakistan, said David Avery, chief of operations
for the Joint Electoral Management Body.
The plane had yet to pick up any ballot boxes, but its loss
will slow the recovery of ballots in the landmark presidential vote that took
place Saturday, Avery said. The province has about 360,000 registered voters.
"We don't think we'll be able to recover the helicopter,"
Avery said.
The U.S. military was air-dropping warm clothes and food to
help eight survivors from the crash survive the freezing night before a planned
rescue operation on Wednesday, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said. He
said the helicopters suffered an engine failure.
The tally of votes from Saturday's election was to begin
Wednesday at the earliest, and final results were not expected until late
October.
Chances for a conclusive result improved Monday after
interim President Hamid Karzai's main challenger, ethnic Tajik candidate Yunus
Qanooni, backed away from a boycott of the vote, indicating he'd accept an
independent commission to investigate vote-fraud allegations.
Karzai is the clear favorite to win, but his ability to
consolidate his rule would be undermined if the opposition refuses to
acknowledge the vote results.
German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the first foreign
leader to visit since the election, all but declared Karzai the winner on
Monday.
In addition, an exit poll conducted by an American group
closely tied to the Republican Party projected Karzai would win with the
outright majority needed to avoid a second round. The survey by the
International Republican Institute said Karzai would finish ahead of Qanooni by
an overwhelming 43 percentage points. The group did not release a full breakdown
of its data.
Qanooni said he would accept an investigation by an
independent panel of election experts into opposition complaints that the
supposedly indelible ink used to mark voters' thumbs in some polling stations
could be rubbed off, allowing some to vote more than once.
"I don't want to be against the election and I appreciate
the good will of the people of Afghanistan," Qanooni said. "I want to prove to
the people of Afghanistan that the national interest is my highest interest."
He said he made his decision after a meeting with U.N.
representative Jean Arnault and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.
The announcement followed similar statements Sunday by
Massooda Jalal, the only female presidential hopeful and ethnic Hazara candidate
Mohammed Mohaqeq.
There were indications another rival, ethnic Uzbek warlord
Abdul Rashid Dostum, might be considering backing down as well. Dostum traveled
to Kabul Tuesday from his home in the north, and his spokesman said he was
considering accepting a compromise.
Electoral officials say the candidates have until Tuesday
afternoon to submit formal protests, and the officials were waiting to receive
them before they began the count.
Election organizers agreed to set up the panel Sunday in
hopes it would end the crisis that emerged when all 15 opposition candidates
declared the boycott while voting was under way Saturday.
The election has been hailed as a success by U.N. officials,
Bush and other world leaders. International electoral observers have said the
attempt to nullify the vote was unjustified.
Schroeder said the poll "was a great step toward democracy
and stability" and predicted a Karzai win. "It is my opinion that he will do it,
and in the first round," he said.
A high voter turnout in Afghanistan, which never before has
tasted democracy, and a failure of Taliban rebels to launch a massive attack
have also been held up as proof of success.
In the latest in a series of minor attacks, five rockets
slammed into Kabul not far from the U.S. Embassy on Monday, killing a
16-year-old Afghan and damaging a house, officials and witnesses said.
