Obama Warns Karzai to End Corruption

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama, facing a major new setback to his goals in Afghanistan as he weighs whether to send more troops, bluntly warned the country's leader Monday to get serious about eradicating official corruption and developing a stable government.

Obama administration officials have a more difficult job in pressing for reforms after election officials in Kabul canceled a scheduled runoff this weekend and declared President Hamid Karzai the winner of a new five-year term. The decision, more than two months following a fraud-tainted election, came after former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah bowed out of the race on Sunday, saying the government-appointed election commission was biased in favor of Karzai.

The outcome left a shadow over Karzai and roused anti-war voices in Washington. Administration officials termed the end of the election uncertainty a step forward for Afghanistan. But it nonetheless could leave Obama more hard-pressed to justify major troop increases that American military officials have recommended to buttress the U.S. and allied effort to battle Islamic militants.

Obama will decide in coming weeks on the request for up to 40,000 additional troops, which would make for a U.S. deployment of more than 100,000, in addition to nearly 40,000 from other Western nations.

In his unusual phone call to Karzai on Monday, Obama said he stressed that the U.S. and its allies wanted to continue helping Afghanistan, but that "this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter" in Afghanistan's governance, security and internal and international relations.

"He assured me that he understood the importance of this moment," Obama said. "But as I indicated to him, the proof is not going to be in words; it's going to be in deeds."

Administration officials signaled that the call was part of a new campaign to help reshape Karzai's image and that of his government.

While the full details of this effort has not yet been decided, some administration officials are arguing in private meetings that Karzai should be pressured to set up an anti-corruption commission that would seek to exclude dishonest Afghans from government, a White House official said.

As well, some officials would like to see members of the opposition receive government appointments from Karzai in order to give the Afghan government broader acceptance.

Some officials in Washington are also arguing that Karzai should be pushed to make a few arrests of high-profile corrupt officials immediately, in hopes of helping restore public trust, the official said.

But some current and former officials agree that any effort to purge deeply ingrained Afghan corruption faces formidable obstacles. For example, some say, the high-profile arrests could backfire and further undermine confidence if the government didn't carry out prosecutions successfully.

Ronald Neumann, who was ambassador to Afghanistan during the Bush administration, said that after decades of war, many Afghans are uncertain whether they will have a job tomorrow, much less a pension. "So the attitude becomes that you take what you can get, when you get it," he said.

Neumann says he believes that the United States can gradually limit the level of corruption in Afghanistan by quietly urging Karzai to keep certain officials out of his government. But he said the United States should not seek to install any of its own choices, since "from Vietnam to Iraq, we have a dismal record of picking officials."

Neumann was nonetheless skeptical that such moves would have much impact on ordinary Afghans' view of their government, which he said was much more shaped by events in their daily experience, such as whether local police demand bribes.

The election turmoil has also buoyed war critics who oppose additional troops and are likely to use the development to exert new pressure the administration's lengthy review of its Afghanistan and Pakistan policy.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said that the "deeply flawed election in Afghanistan is just one more reason to question our current misguided strategy, which relies too much on military force and partnerships with corrupt government officials and security forces." Some conservatives, too, raised questions about Karzai's continuing credibility.

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., said Karzai should have yielded to pressure to replace election officials to ensure that the election was fair. "The fact that he didn't means he's not to be trusted and is a detriment rather than an asset to the United States," Rohrabacher said.

U.S. military officials have been arguing that public trust in the government is key to the counter-insurgency strategy they have plotted to beat the Taliban and al-Qaida members still in Afghanistan.

Military officials insist at the same time that it is important to have realistic expectations about the Afghan government, and to recognize that any improvements aren't likely to come overnight.

"The election wasn't going to turn a less than perfect government into a shining example of democracy," said an American defense official. "This is a journey."

Both civilian and military officials still hold out hope for a deal to bring some elements of Abdullah's coalition into the government. Though Abdullah now appears to have little leverage, Karzai stands to win points with foreign supporters by adding him, or at least some of his supporters, to the government.

The election panel concluded it had the authority to cancel Saturday's scheduled runoff because the constitution states that a runoff should be between two candidates.

"If one candidate isn't ready to participate in the election, it is the mandate of the Independent Election Commission to declare the winner, and we did so today," commission Chairman Azizullah Lodin told a packed news conference.

The commission also considered the expense and security risks of holding a vote during an escalating Taliban insurgency, electoral officials said. "Why should people sacrifice their lives for an election when the result is already known before it is conducted?" said Zekria Barakzai, the panel's deputy chief electoral officer.

Barakzai acknowledged he was "totally disappointed" about the election process. He said the commission would be studying what went wrong in order to avoid the same mistakes during next year's provincial elections.

Abdullah aides claimed that the commission didn't have the right to cancel the runoff, raising the possibility of a legal challenge.

U.N.-backed auditors threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes as fraudulent following the Aug. 20 election. That left Karzai just short of the 50 percent threshold required for an outright win.

At first, Karzai resisted going to a second round against Abdullah. He maintained that the irregularities were not as severe as claimed, and that he had received more than 50 percent of the vote.

Fearing that Karzai's government would not be seen as legitimate, U.S. and other Western officials leaned heavily on the president to consent to a second round of voting. But neither the U.S. nor the U.N. wanted to risk more violence for a vote with just one candidate.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who flew to Kabul on Monday for a surprise visit, welcomed the decision to forego a runoff vote and congratulated Karzai on a second term.

"Afghanistan now faces significant challenges and the new president must move swiftly to form a government that is able to command the support of both the Afghan people and the international community," Ban said in a statement.

Karzai's aides declined to discuss the president's plans, saying that he would address a news conference Tuesday. Previously they had indicated that Karzai was willing to entertain the idea of a coalition government, but only after he was formally declared president.

In the war-weary capital, many expressed relief that the painful election was over. Amid fears of violence, business declined sharply at businesses such as Mubin Jamshidi's car dealership. The 35-year-old merchant said that without a clearer picture of the future almost no one was prepared to put down the money to buy a car.

"I'm so glad right now because our president is elected," Jamshidi said. "But I'm still waiting to see what happens in the next few days."