Karzai rival plans new party

KABUL: Ethnic Tajik politician Yunus Qanuni says he will form a new political party in Afghanistan to challenge newly installed President Hamid Karzai.

Qanuni is among Karzai's strongest rivals. He turned down a job in Karzai's cabinet to lead the opposition, the BBC said.

I was offered the defense ministry post but I turned it down because I am not a military man, Qanuni said.

Karzai said he has no problem with Qanuni's plan -- as long as the party is a national one and not based on religious or ethnic lines.

We need political parties because in (their) absence ... politics will become ethnic or linguistic, he said.