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Karzai loyalists block results of poll review

Sydney Morning Herald - October 20, 2009

Jon Boone, Kabul – The organisation responsible for the Afghan election is trying to stop the United Nations-backed Election Complaints Commission from throwing out enough of President Hamid Karzai's votes to force a second round.

Officials from the Independent Electoral Commission, a body seen as heavily partisan to Mr Karzai, blocked a planned announcement on Sunday of the results of the ECC's fraud investigation. The UN-backed ECC is controlled by a majority of non-Afghans and is facing a growing chorus of anti-foreigner rhetoric in the government-owned media.

The investigation results are expected to reduce Mr Karzai's preliminary result of 55 per cent to less than half the vote, forcing a run-off with his nearest competitor, Abdullah Abdullah.

As thousands of Karzai supporters took to the streets in Kandahar province to denounce "foreign meddling" in the election result, IEC officials admitted they were looking into legal challenges to the ECC's decision.

A rejection of the ECC ruling would dramatically escalate the political crisis in Kabul.

Western powers have spent the past few days frantically pushing Mr Karzai to accept the final outcome.

Yesterday (Sydney time) the White House signalled that the US President, Barack Obama, would postpone any decision on sending more troops to Afghanistan until the disputed elections had been settled and resulted in a government that could work with the United States.

US officials pressed Mr Karzai to accept a run-off vote or share power with Mr Abdullah, a former foreign minister. Although Mr Karzai's support appeared likely to fall below 50 per cent in the final count, together he and Mr Abdullah received 70 per cent of the votes, in theory enough to forge a unity government with national credibility.

The question at the heart of the matter, said Mr Obama's chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, is not "how many troops you send, but do you have a credible Afghan partner for this process that can provide the security and the type of services that the Afghan people need?"

Mr Emanuel echoed the thoughts of John Kerry, a top Obama ally and chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, who said in a separate interview from Kabul, "I don't see how President Obama can make a decision about the committing of our additional forces without an adequate government in place."

Mr Emanuel said: "I think it would be irresponsible... it would be reckless to make a decision on US troop levels if in fact you haven't done a thorough analysis of whether in fact there's an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that US troops would create and become a true partner in governing."

The signals came as Republican critics complained that Mr Obama was taking too long to decide whether to send the additional 40,000 troops requested by his commander, General Stanley McChrystal. They argue the President has left an impression of indecisiveness that has emboldened the Taliban, making the task for the 68,000 US troops already there harder.

However, the delay reflects deep uncertainty inside the White House about the prospects of waging a successful war without a partner in Kabul with widespread legitimacy among the Afghan people. (Agencies)

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