Yunus Qanooni
A former education minister, Qanooni is a 47-year-old Tajik from the Panjshir region in the north. His candidature is endorsed by former defence minister Mohammed Fahim, the powerful warlord who helped lead the campaign that drove the Taliban out of Kabul in 2001, and Foreign Minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah, both Tajiks.
But though most Tajiks from the Panjshir valley are likely to vote for him, Qanooni is said to lack nationwide appeal.
As a teenager, Qanooni joined the underground against President Mohammad Daoud, who had overthrown King Mohammad Zahir Shah in 1973.
In 1979, when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan, he fled to the mountains in the north and got close to the legendary Ahmad Shah Masoud, who was assassinated by suspected Al Qaeda fighters two days before the September 11, 2001, attacks.
Qanooni, who walks with a limp and a cane following an assassination attempt in 1993 in which his car was bombed near Kabul, is married and has six children. A leader of the Northern Alliance faction which dominates governance in Kabul, he is considered close to India and has been known to fly to New Delhi for consulations.
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
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