Obama tells Karzai he must 'write a new chapter'

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By Jon Ward

The White House on Monday defended the legitimacy of Afghanistan's presidential election, following the cancellation of a run-off between the incumbent president and a challenger candidate, and said their focus had turned to ensuring that the government in power could be a credible partner to the U.S.

The White House said that a decision on whether to send more troops to Afghanistan is still not imminent, but will be made "in the coming weeks."

President Obama spoke by telephone from the White House to Afghan President Hamid Karzai, in a conversation Mr. Obama characterized as more than a congratulatory call. Mr. Obama said he challenged Mr. Karzai to stop years of "drift" with bold and forceful reform efforts.

"I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter based on improved governance, a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption, joint efforts to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces so the Afghan people can provide for their own security," Mr. Obama said.

Mr. Obama said that Mr. Karzai "assured me that he understood the importance of this moment."

"But as I indicated to him, the proof is not going to be in words, it's going to be in deeds," Mr. Obama said, speaking to reporters afterwards in the Oval Office, prior to a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt.

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That message was echoed by White House press secretary Robert Gibbs.

"Now begin the hard conversations about ensuring credibility and ensuring improving governance, addressing corruption," Mr. Gibbs said. "We are focused on what has to happen in order to have a credible partner."

But Mr. Gibbs also defended Mr. Karzai and the process which led over the weekend to him gaining another five-year term.

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

Challenger Abdullah Abdullah, an Afghan physician and politician, withdrew Sunday from the run-off election that had been scheduled for Nov. 7. The run-off was scheduled after the first election in August was found by independent observers to have been marked by widespread fraud and vote-rigging, much of it to the advantage of Mr. Karzai.

Mr. Gibbs also defended Mr. Karzai from the idea that he is tainted by the results of the August election.

"Those results were thrown out. The fraud was reported, investigated," Mr. Gibbs said. "I don't think there's any reason to believe that the Afghan people won't think this government is as legitimate as it is."

Republican leaders said Mr. Abdullah's withdrawal cleared the way for the president to make a decision on strategy and troop levels in Afghanistan. Mr. Obama has been reviewing the way forward for more than a month, holding his first war council meeting at the White House on Sept. 27.

There are currently around 65,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, but Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, has requested an increase of troops that could number 40,000 troops and possibly twice that number.

"Now that it is clear that President Karzai will remain in office, the White House has no further pretext for delaying the decision on giving General McChrystal the resources he needs to achieve our goals in Afghanistan," said House Minority Leader John Boehner, Ohio Republican. "Delaying the decision puts our men and women fighting there in greater danger every single day."