Afghanistan is a nation at war but it is also in the midst of its second ever presidential election. Until recently, most observers expected the current President, Hamid Karzai, to easily win re-election on August 20th.

But in recent weeks, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, a former cabinet minister in Karzai’s government and an aid to famed Mujahedeen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, has started to mount an aggressive and well-organized campaign — attracting massive crowds throughout the country.

In the city of Herat (see video), thousands of Afghans welcomed him as he arrived at the airport on a hot and dusty Friday afternoon. After a campaign rally at the local soccer stadium, Dr. Abdullah spent the rest of the weekend meeting with a diverse mix of Afghans – including Sunni and Shia clerics, women, businessman and leaders of various ethnic groups.

Despite once being President Karzai’s Foreign Minister, Dr Abdullah routinely criticizes his former boss – arguing that Karzai has had 8 years to move Afghanistan forward, with little to show for his time in power. Taking a page out of Barak Obama’s playbook, Dr. Abdullah says Afghanistan needs “change.”

But in a country where most voters still choose leaders from their own ethnic group, Dr Abdullah faces an up hill fight. Unlike President Karzai, who is a Pashtun, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, Dr. Abdullah is a Tajik, a smaller, though still powerful ethnic group.

In order to defeat President Karzai, Dr. Abdullah must carry not only his own Tajik base, but also win large chunks of other ethnic groups – a task that seemed unlikely until just a few weeks ago. But Dr. Abdullah’s aggressive campaign appears to be winning him support in some seemingly unlikely places.

At a recent campaign stop in Kandahar – a city at the center of President Karzai’s base – Dr. Abdullah drew several thousand supporters.