Rival's exit hands Karzai second term

Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai was effectively handed a second five-year term when his only challenger dropped out of the race and the US said it was prepared to work with the man it had previously criticised to combat corruption and confront the Taliban.

Barack Obama has been waiting for a new government in Kabul to announce whether he would send tens of thousands of new troops to Afghanistan. The war has intensified and October was the deadliest month of the eight-year war for US forces.

Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah announced his decision to quit yesterday, six days before the run-off election, after last-minute talks led by the US and United Nations failed to produce a power-sharing agreement acceptable to Mr Karzai, according to a Western diplomat.

In an emotional speech, Mr Abdullah told supporters that he could not accept an run-off led by the same Karzai-appointed election commission that managed the fraud-marred vote in August.

The run-off was set for November 7 after United Nations-backed auditors annulled nearly a third of Mr Karzai’s votes as fakes.

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

The Obama administration, which had been critical of Mr Karzai’s leadership, appeared to accept the outcome.

Senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said most polls showed Mr Abdullah would have lost the run-off anyway “so we are going to deal with the government that is there”.

“And obviously there are issues we need to discuss, such as reducing the high level of corruption,” Mr Axelrod said on Face The Nation. “These are issues we’ll take up with President Karzai.”

US secretary of state Hillary Clinton congratulated Mr Abdullah for a “dignified and constructive” campaign and said the US “will support the next president and the people of Afghanistan, who seek and deserve a better future”.

Mr Axelrod said Mr Obama would announce a war strategy “within weeks”. A senior US official said Mr Obama had still not yet decided what to do and it remained unclear whether he would decide before he went to Asia on November 11.

About 68,000 American troops already have been ordered to report to Afghanistan by the end of the year.

The top US and Nato commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, wants the Pentagon to send him an additional 40,000 troops to prevent the Taliban from letting al Qaida once again use Afghanistan as a haven – as it was in the days leading up to the September 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Despite misgivings over Mr Karzai, the US has little choice but to support a leader who was once the toast of Washington for his charm, fluent English and his role as a conciliator in the wake of the Taliban collapse.

But critics say he has been reluctant to rein in some of the former warlords whose support he sought to bolster his own political power, but who are allegedly responsible for much of the corruption that plagues the government.

His own half brother Ahmed Wali Karzai has been rumoured to be involved in the drug trade, charges that he vigorously denies.

Mr Karzai insists he fell out of favour in Washington when he openly criticised US military tactics, including the heavy use of air power that has killed many civilians.

General McChrystal has ordered troops to use air power sparingly to avoid turning Afghans against the Nato mission.

Mr Abdullah stopped short of calling on supporters to boycott the polls – a move US officials feared would have enflamed tensions. He also urged his followers “not to go into the streets” to protest at the election.

“The people have the right to have a fair election,” he said. “But this election was a failure. It was not independent. It was not transparent.”

Mr Karzai’s campaign spokesman, Waheed Omar, said it was “very unfortunate” that Mr Abdullah had withdrawn but insisted that Saturday’s 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,” Mr Omar said.