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WASHINGTON: Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah warned on Sunday the US strategy in Afghanistan will not succeed without a credible partner in Kabul, blaming President Hamid Karzai for deteriorating conditions.
Abdullah, a former foreign minister, said more troops were needed to stabilise the country. But more than eight years into the war, he said, Afghanistan should have been in position to ask for fewer troops, not more.
"We are not there. Why? Because of the failures of the current administration in Afghanistan," he said in an interview with CNN television.
"Any success for the US strategy in Afghanistan will depend on the credibility of your partner, on the legitimacy of your partner," he added.
Abdullah suggested that only his own victory in November's head-to-head contest against Karzai will set his country on a path toward viability and better relations with international partners in Washington and around the world.
"Hopefully, this runoff ... whenever it takes place, will provide the United States and the international community with such a partner," he said.
"There is no doubt that the partnership has not been working quite well in the past few months or few years," he said, adding that without a credible partner, "I don't see a successful strategy in Afghanistan."
Meanwhile, in a pre-recorded interview on the same network, Karzai said charges of election fraud had been blown out of proportion, but said he had agreed to a run-off at the behest of Afghanistan's foreign partners and to avoid bitter divisions in his country.
"There were some mistakes, there were some incidents of fraud," said Karzai, who said, however, that "the election as a whole was clean, and as a result was clear".
"I decided for peace, for stability, and for the future of democracy in Afghanistan and for the future of institutional order in Afghanistan to call for a run-off and I find that in the interest of the Afghan people," he said.
Karzai said that now that a November 7 runoff vote has been scheduled, "whatever happens, this election must present a clear result and that result must be respected".
Abdullah officially won 30.59 per cent of the August 20 first round vote, but Karzai agreed to a run-off after more than one million ballots were discounted due to fraud, leaving him short of the 50 per cent required for outright victory.
Abdullah – who has accused Karzai and Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) of having a hand in the fraud that tainted a first round of voting – told CNN the vote comes at a particularly critical time for the United States.
With President Barack Obama in the throes of a critical decision on whether to send tens of thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan, administration officials have pointed to the disputed elections as a complicating factor.
"The basic criteria have to be like, when we do need more troops at this stage, how is it that we can draw down those troops down the line and then finally, Afghans take responsibility for their own security?" Abdullah said.
"Is that going to take place? What's the roadmap? What are the rules?" Under the current government, he said, "I don't see a prospect for the strategy."
Still, he said "if Mr Karzai is elected through a transparent and credible process, I will be the first person to congratulate him and wholeheartedly congratulate him and wish him well in this country in being the opposition."
Meanwhile, leading US lawmakers said Sunday it remains an open question whether a new Karzai administration can help put Afghanistan on the road to greater stability.
Democratic Senator Ben Nelson said the US administration will have no choice, but to work with a re-elected Karzai government to "root out all that corruption and help them bring about an efficient government in the delivery of the services to the people, as well as the security".
Meanwhile, Abdullah added that Obama was right to take his time in reaching a decision on troops, saying he understood that the US leader is "studying the situation in a critical time".
But he expressed concern about the country's security situation in the few weeks preceding the vote.
"In some parts of the country, the war is going on; insurgency has taken root," he said. "As a whole, security situation is not good."
- AFP/so
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