Karzai Digs In

The Times is reporting that Hamid Karzai won't play nice:

President Karzai is refusing to accept the result of a UN-led probe into vote-rigging in Afghanistan's presidential election and a senior aide said today that the crisis had reached a "deadlock".

Mohammad Moin Marastyal, an Afghan MP and leading member of Mr Karzai’s campaign team. said that the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) had twisted the facts in a deliberate attempt to trigger a run-off vote.

“Effort has been made to lower Karzai’s vote to below 50 per cent," Mr Marastyal said. "Now we are in a deadlock.”

One of the consequences of Western governments proclaiming from the roof-tops that there is no greater foreign policy issue than Afghanistan is the impression in the minds of Afghan leaders that, corrupt or not, the West is not going to bail on them. Karzai, at least, certainly isn't acting as if his government is desperately in need of international support.

(AP Photos)