KABUL – A grim President Hamid Karzai bowed to intense U.S. pressure and agreed Tuesday to a runoff election Nov. 7, acknowledging he fell short of a majority after U.N.-backed auditors stripped him of nearly a third of his votes.
With the fraud investigation completed, election officials must now scramble to organize a new ballot as the fierce Afghan winter approaches and the country faces a growing threat from Taliban insurgents.
President Barack Obama said he called Karzai to welcome his willingness to run in a new election against his main rival Abdullah Abdullah. "President Karzai's constructive actions established an important precedent for Afghanistan's new democracy," Obama said."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also complimented Karzai's decision but stressed that a new election will be a "huge challenge."
"We have learned very valuable but painful lessons from the first election," Ban told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. "We must not repeat what they have done last time."
Karzai spoke at a news conference after meeting at least four times with U.S. Sen. John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
The Afghan leader did not express any regret over the widespread fraud, saying only that "this is not the right time to discuss investigations, this is the time to move forward toward stability and national unity."
He acknowledged the final results showing the need for a runoff were "legitimate, legal and according to the constitution of Afghanistan."
Kerry, who stood alongside Karzai and the head of the U.N. in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said the agreement on a second round had transformed the crisis into a "moment of great opportunity," and praised Karzai for "genuine leadership in the decision he has made today."
Karzai and Kerry were in talks as late as Tuesday afternoon, suggesting that up until the last moment there was a chance the Afghan leader would return to insisting on a first-round victory.
One alternative to a runoff that diplomats say was being discussed was a power-sharing deal, though the form that could take is unclear. And it could take weeks or months to hammer out an agreement between the two rivals. Karzai ruled out a coalition government, telling reporters, "there is no space for a coalition government in the law."
Yet the agreement that a runoff is required could be just the first step in negotiations to iron out these differences between the Karzai and Abdullah camps. Kerry said he had not discussed power-sharing with the Afghan leader, but other diplomats have said that it has been part of discussion.
Karzai's announcement came two months to the day after the first-round vote and followed weeks of political uncertainty.
