Obama administration pledges to work with Karzai, despite doubts

By LARA JAKES

The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Top Obama administration officials pledged Sunday to work with Afghan President Hamid Karzai despite continuing doubts about his credibility that could have been eased had he won a runoff election against his top challenger, who dropped out, citing concerns of fraud.

The decision Sunday by former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah to quit less than a week before the runoff was to happen creates another headache for the White House as it struggles to draw up a battle plan for the eight-year Afghanistan war, including whether to send tens of thousands more U.S. troops.

"We are going to deal with the government that is there," senior Obama adviser David Axelrod said. "And obviously, there are issues we need to discuss, such as reducing the high level of corruption. These are issues we’ll take up with President Karzai."

Axelrod said Obama will announce a war strategy "within weeks."

A senior U.S. official said Obama has not decided what to do, and it remains unclear whether he will decide before he goes to Asia on Nov. 11.

The official said a Karzai victory would have given the sitting Afghan president more legitimacy in the wake of widespread charges of fraud during the election in August, in which he collected 48 percent of the vote.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to talk more frankly about Obama’s decision-making process.

Still, Karzai’s re-election was all but universally expected among U.S. officials.

"Karzai was going to win anyway. So what now?" Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said Sunday in an interview from Dubai as he headed back to the United States after three days in Afghanistan.

Had a runoff occurred, "that would make me think that he’s more credible," said Hunter, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan. "But we can’t force Abdullah to run. Let’s get past that and say, 'Karzai, step up.’ "

For months, the Obama administration has been grappling with whether to send more U.S. forces or rely more heavily on weapons such as unmanned spy planes to target al Qaeda and other terrorists.

About 68,000 American troops have been ordered to report to Afghanistan by year’s end.

The top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, Army Gen. Stanley McChrystal, wants the Pentagon to send an additional 40,000 troops to prevent the Taliban from allowing al Qaeda to use Afghanistan as a haven — as it was in the days leading up to 9-11.

The White House has signaled that it will probably send more troops but fewer than McChrystal wants.

Abdullah’s withdrawal in effect handed Karzai an uncontested win that puts Obama "in a difficult position," said Karin von Hippel, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"We need a credible partner to make things happen," said von Hippel, who was still planning to head to Afghanistan today to serve as an election observer should Saturday’s vote be held. "It’s possible that Karzai can be a credible partner, but he really hasn’t been in the last few years. And he needs to change the way he governs to become that."

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