KABUL, Oct. 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Two Afghan politicians, one of them the leader of a prominent party, announced their support or are willing to support incumbent president Hamid Karzai here Wednesday.

   Ahmad Wali Masoud, a brother of the former Northern Alliance political and military leader Ahmad Shah Masoud, said he sides with the US-backed president if the latter accepts his nine-article proposal in the name of "national partnership" that he had already put before him. "If Mr.Karzai will accept it, I willsupport him in the presidential race," he told journalists at a news conference.

   However, he did not elaborate on the content of his proposal.

   Masoud used to serve as Afghan ambassador to the United Kingdom.After the collapse of the extremist Taliban, he returned to Kabulto form the National Movement of Afghanistan, one of the most important political parties in the Central Asian countries.

   A major and powerful member of the party, Younis Qanooni,stands against Karzai in the presidential race, and he is considered by many as the archrival of the incumbent. Analysts agree that the switch of the loyalty by Masoud will deepen the divide among the party.

   An independent candidate who pits himself against transitional president, Abdul Haseeb Arian, also changed him mind and announced his backing to Karzai.

   At a press conference, Arian said he supported Karzai because of the "national interest". After several days of discussion with his colleagues, Arian has agreed that he will ask all the people to lend their support to Karzai. He will also ask Karzai donot make any alliance with warlords, "otherwise I will continue my campaign", he said.

   The other reason behind his switch of loyalty is he wanted to help the president to fight terrorism and narcotics, he added.

   Mohamad Zahir Shah ,the aging king of Afghanistan, urged the Afghan people to participate in the balloting in an active andfree way, they should not afraid of anyone, his spokesman said to pressmen.

   The king, the spokesman goes on, will not show any particular likings to any of the candidates, and he regard them equally, "since they are his sons, " he concluded.  Enditem