GOP: Karzai Win Clears Way for Obama Troop Decision

As early as Sunday, Obama administration officials began paving the way for a dramatic turn of events in the Afghan presidential runoff. There had been murmurings that President Hamid Karzai's chief challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, would pull out of the early November race after Karzai refused his rival's request that the head of the Afghan Election Commission be replaced. Abdullah charged that with such widespread fraud in the first vote—nearly one third of the ballots were ultimately thrown out, prompting the runoff—such a move was necessary for a fair election. When it didn't happen, the candidate withdrew, saying that a "transparent election is not possible."

As a result, even as ballots were being printed, Karzai was declared the winner. By necessity, the Obama administration rallied around him. This began the day before Abdullah announced that he would not take part in the election. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a press conference that such a move was "his decision to make." "But," she pointedly added, "I do not think it affects the legitimacy" of the electoral process in Afghanistan. The reason? "When President Karzai accepted a runoff without knowing what the outcome would be, that bestowed legitimacy from that moment."

That, at least, is the hope within the Obama administration, which needs a strong and legitimate partner in the Afghan government. The news that Karzai was certified the winner by the Afghan election commission was greeted with a "Yes, and . . . ?" shrug in much of Kabul—as was the news, reported in the New York Times last week, that Karzai's brother is on the CIA payroll. Afghan citizens often say that while the Karzai family may not be ideal, at least they are the devil people know.

This sort of cynicism—or at least a lack of hunger for the electoral process, as some characterize it—is a concern for many on Capitol Hill. Others argue, alternately, that now that an election winner has been certified, the last hurdle has been cleared for President Obama to send more troops to Afghanistan. "Now that it is clear that President Karzai will remain in office, the White House has no further pretext for delaying the decision on giving General [Stanley] McChrystal the resources he needs to achieve our goals in Afghanistan," Rep. John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, said in a statement Monday. "There are no more excuses."

The White House, however, stuck to its long-standing approach, with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs telling reporters Monday that the President would be making his strategy decisions "in the coming weeks." The recent turn of events will not affect Obama's decision, U.S. officials say. Around Washington and within Kabul, Karzai's victory was a given. "Every poll that had been taken there suggested that [Abdullah] was likely to be defeated anyway," senior White House adviser David Axelrod told CBS's Face the Nation. "So we are going to deal with the government that is there."

But there is little disagreement that the current government needs a great deal of help. It is rife with corruption, as are the Afghan security forces, which were sharply criticized last week for a slow response to a brutal attack on a guesthouse where United Nations election workers were staying. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton said in a statement Monday, "The recent flawed election process has reinforced the need to also push for the reform of the national Afghan government, to increase legitimacy and help build a capable partner for our efforts in Afghanistan."

That means, Skelton added, more troops. It is widely believed within the halls of the Pentagon that the president will ultimately send at least 20,000. Just how many more remains an open question. McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has requested some 40,000.

In the meantime, in addition to consternation with the electoral process, there was gratitude that Abdullah, in his widely attended speech Sunday decrying the election process, did not call on his followers to protest or to boycott the political system. "I had hoped there would be a better process," he said. "But it is final."

What is not final, however, is Abdullah's possible role in some sort of power-sharing agreement within the government, with Karzai at the helm. Abdullah said that he would "leave the door open" to that option, as have U.S. officials. That said, he added that his decision to pull out of the runoff was not made "in exchange for anything from anybody."

• See photos of the Afghan election.
• Read A Different Front Line in Afghanistan.