WASHINGTON (AFP) – A senior aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai has for the first time conceded that disputed elections could enter a second round and pushed to hold the run-off quickly.Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, said Thursday he has not personally spoken to election authorities who are expected to make an announcement within days.
But Jawad, who has served as Karzai's chief of staff and press secretary, became the first member of his circle to speak publicly of plans for a new vote after Western-led allegations of major fraud in the August 20 polls.Jawad said the next round of presidential elections should be held quickly, charging that a delay would create headaches for other nations -- including the United States, as it mulls sending more troops to fight Taliban insurgents.
Karzai has passionately rejected charges of widespread irregularities, testing the patience of Western nations that were his key backers after the US-led military operation in 2001 that toppled the Taliban regime.European Union observers said a quarter of all votes, or 1.5 million ballots, were suspect.Afghan election authorities are reviewing disputed ballots. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, expected a final announcement on Sunday or Monday.Karzai's chief rival, urbane former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, said in Kabul that he was hopeful investigations into ballot-stuffing allegations would result in a run-off.But Abdullah warned that if a run-off were not called, "those who are behind the fraud and tolerate fraud will be responsible for the consequences."Fellow candidate Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official, said on a visit to Washington that Karzai and Abdullah so distrusted each other and election authorities that only a deal between the two could break the impasse.
The ambassador was unusually open about Karzai's disagreements with President Barack Obama, who has been cooler toward the Afghan leader than his predecessor, George W. Bush.Obama has made the fight against Islamic extremism a chief focus of his young presidency.He signed a five-year, 7.5-billion-dollar development package for violence-torn neighbor Pakistan on Thursday as he weighs a decision on whether to send tens of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A senior aide to Afghan President Hamid Karzai has for the first time conceded that disputed elections could enter a second round and pushed to hold the run-off quickly.Said Tayeb Jawad, Afghanistan's ambassador to the United States, said Thursday he has not personally spoken to election authorities who are expected to make an announcement within days.
But Jawad, who has served as Karzai's chief of staff and press secretary, became the first member of his circle to speak publicly of plans for a new vote after Western-led allegations of major fraud in the August 20 polls.Jawad said the next round of presidential elections should be held quickly, charging that a delay would create headaches for other nations -- including the United States, as it mulls sending more troops to fight Taliban insurgents.
Karzai has passionately rejected charges of widespread irregularities, testing the patience of Western nations that were his key backers after the US-led military operation in 2001 that toppled the Taliban regime.European Union observers said a quarter of all votes, or 1.5 million ballots, were suspect.Afghan election authorities are reviewing disputed ballots. A senior US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, expected a final announcement on Sunday or Monday.Karzai's chief rival, urbane former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, said in Kabul that he was hopeful investigations into ballot-stuffing allegations would result in a run-off.But Abdullah warned that if a run-off were not called, "those who are behind the fraud and tolerate fraud will be responsible for the consequences."Fellow candidate Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official, said on a visit to Washington that Karzai and Abdullah so distrusted each other and election authorities that only a deal between the two could break the impasse.
The ambassador was unusually open about Karzai's disagreements with President Barack Obama, who has been cooler toward the Afghan leader than his predecessor, George W. Bush.Obama has made the fight against Islamic extremism a chief focus of his young presidency.He signed a five-year, 7.5-billion-dollar development package for violence-torn neighbor Pakistan on Thursday as he weighs a decision on whether to send tens of thousands more US troops to Afghanistan.
