Sweden's Bildt: Afghan authorities to assess presidential runoff

Nov 2, 2009, 8:32 GMT

Stockholm - Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah's decision to pull out of a scheduled runoff has to be assessed by Afghan authorities including the Independent Election Commission and Supreme Court, Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt said.

Bildt late Sunday said he had 'no idea' if there would be a runoff or not, saying there were numerous conflicting reports from Kabul.

'It is up to to the Afghan political system to decide,' Bildt told Swedish broadcaster SVT's current affairs programme Agenda.

Sweden is the current holder of the rotating European Union presidency, and Bildt was to take part in a EU-US summit in Washington Tuesday along with Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt where Afghanistan was one of the topics on the agenda.

'It is a fragile political system that is finding its form,' Bildt said about Afghanistan, adding that 'we should not lecture too much.'

'We should await what does the election commission say, what does President (Hamid) Karzai say, what does the Supreme Court say, what does the Afghan parliament say about this difficult situation,' he said.

When a president is in place 'we should be there with vigour and present strong views on reforms and the need for greater stability.'