US views Karzai as legitimate

Nov 2, 2009, 18:14 GMT

Washington - The United States views Afghan President Hamid Karzai as the legitimate leader of the country following the decision by his challenger to drop out of the run-off election that was scheduled for this weekend.

'President Karzai has been declared the winner of the Afghan election and will head the next government of Afghanistan,' White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said. 'So, obviously, he's the legitimate leader of the country.'

Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah announced Sunday that he was dropping out of the race before the second round of voting on Saturday. He said he did not believe the outcome would be fair. With Karzai as the lone candidate, Afghan election officials declared on Monday that he was the winner.

Gibbs said President Barack Obama planned to telephone Karzai later on Monday to offer his support to the re-elected Karzai. The first round of voting took place in August but the polling was plagued with fraud and ballots were tossed out.

The problematic electoral process has raised questions about Karzai's legitimacy at a time when Obama was reviewing the administration's policy in Afghanistan and needs credible leadership in Kabul.

Karzai was forced into a run-off with Abdullah after ballots were tossed out that originally handed him an outright victory in the August 20 election. Under pressure from Washington, Karzai agreed to accept the run-off.

The Obama administration was concerned about an alliance with a government headed by someone viewed by the Afghan people as an illegitimate leader.

Obama is weighing whether to send 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to step up the fight against the Taliban.