Afghan challenger drops out of election

PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai’s challenger withdrew yesterday from next weekend’s run-off election, effectively handing the incumbent a victory, but raising doubts about the credibility of the government at a time when the US is anxious for an effective partner in the war against the Taliban.

Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said he made his decision after Karzai turned down his demands for changes in the Independent Election Commission and other measures that he said would prevent massive fraud, which marred the first round balloting August 20.

Abdullah stopped short of calling for an electoral boycott and urged his followers “not to go to the streets, not to demonstrate”.

Azizullah Lodin, the head of the Karzai-appointed commission, said he would have to confer with constitutional lawyers before deciding later Sunday whether the run-off would proceed without Abdullah.

A clouded electoral picture further complicates the Obama administration’s efforts to decide whether to send tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan to battle the Taliban and its al-Qaida allies.

The White House has been waiting for a new government in Kabul to announce a decision, but the war has intensified in the meantime. October was the deadliest month of the war for US forces with at least 57 American deaths.

Before the announcement, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton downplayed the prospect of an Abdullah withdrawal, saying it would not undermine the legitimacy of the election.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election,” Clinton told reporters Saturday in Abu Dhabi. “It’s a personal choice which may or may not be made.”

Nevertheless, the contentious electoral process, marked by massive fraud in the August 20 first round vote, has divided anti-Taliban groups at a time when the US and its allies are pressing for unity in the face of growing insurgent strength.

US officials pressured Karzai into agreeing to a run-off after UN-backed auditors threw out nearly a third of his votes from the August ballot, citing fraud.

Karzai’s campaign spokesman, Waheed Omar, said it was “very unfortunate” that Abdullah had withdrawn, but the Saturday run-off should proceed.

“We believe that the elections have to go on, the process has to complete itself, the people of Afghanistan have to be given the right to vote,” Omar said.

In an emotional speech, Abdullah told supporters the Karzai-appointed election commission had engineered massive fraud in the first round vote, but his demands for replacing the top leadership had been rejected.

“I will not participate in the November 7 election,” Abdullah said, because a “transparent election is not possible.”

Abdullah told reporters later that he was not calling for a boycott, but instead leaving it up to his supporters to decide whether to vote if a run-off goes forward on Saturday. He said he made the decision “with a lot of pain” and hoped his withdrawal would “give the people of Afghanistan a chance to move on.”

As recently as Saturday night, Abdullah staffers were saying he would call for supporters to boycott and for the runoff to be delayed until spring with an interim government until then. Abdullah said he made his final decision to take a softer stance in consideration of the cost in terms of lives, resources, time and effort.