Karzai is in denial. Stripped of close to one million votes, he still hasn’t yet accepted that a runoff is required.
However, according to the AP, Pres. Karzai may be about to make a move and is ready to “set the stage” for reconciling the messy election. Secretary Clinton is saying Karzai is going to announce his intentions tomorrow.
“He is going to announce his intentions,” Clinton told reporters at the State Department after meeting with Iraqi President Nouri al-Maliki. “I am going to let him do that, but I am encouraged at the direction the situation is moving.”
With winter coming, Nato secretary-general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, drew a line in the sand today as the world community comes together to pressure Mr. Karzai to move quickly.
President Barack Obama led western leaders in stepping up pressure on Karzai to hold a second round of elections to confer desperately-needed legitimacy on the Kabul government. The White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, made it clear today Obama wants Afghanistan to hold a run-off: “It is now up to the Afghans to make this legitimate.”
While Gibbs has said before that removing all US troops from Afghanistan was not a viable option, he issued a veiled threat to Karzai, saying that regardless of whether 40,000 extra troops were sent, the almost 68,000 US troops already there needed a credible partner in Kabul.
Other international leaders, including Gordon Brown, also pressed Karzai to accept the UN findings. The prime minister made his third call to the Afghanistan president within a week, telling Karzai that he should accept a run-off because he was likely to win it.
A British government source described the situation in Kabul as “volatile and unpredictable”. …
Clinton to Karzai over the weekend confirms the squeeze that’s been going on, via Tapper:
The ECC report invalidated enough votes to bring Karzai’s total percentage to around 48%, mandating a run-off election.
In a phone call over the weekend, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged Karzai to accept the results of the ECC process. Clinton told Karzai he could be seen as a leader, a statesman. He would almost certainly win the run-off against Abdullah – whom the ECC said garnered just over 31% of the vote. He could also be seen as a statesman if he formed a unity government with Abdullah’s allies.
[...] Karzai is being lobbied heavily not just by Americans but by the larger international community in a very united way. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon has called Karzai, and his lead representative on the ground, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, has been in extensive discussions with Karzai.
Neither Obama or Biden have spoken to Karzai, with AP reporting John Kerry is in Kabul tonight, with more reports confirming Karzai will likely make a statement on the elections tomorrow.
Comments are closed.