Karzai Officially Named President, Runoff Canceled...He Can't Be Trusted

(Afghan President Karzai declared winner. Election officials declare President Hamid Karzai the winner of Afghanistan’s disputed election. NBC’s Richard Engel reports.)

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Official: Afghanistan cancels runoff election


Afghanistan's chief electoral officer announced Monday that this weekend's planned runoff election has been canceled.

Daoud Ali Najafi gave no details, but a second senior official on the commission also confirmed the second round has been called off.

President Hamid Karzai had already effectively secured a second term when his only challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the race Sunday because he said the vote would not be free or fair. The first round was marred by massive fraud.

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday and said that the world body's work will continue despite the slayings of U.N. staff in Kabul last week.

Ban told reporters in the capital that "we cannot be deterred, we must not be deterred. ... The work of the United Nations will continue."

Last Wednesday, insurgents stormed a guest house in Kabul where U.N. election workers were staying, killing five U.N. staffers and three Afghans.

On Monday, the world body announced it would suspend long-term development work in areas of Pakistan along the Afghan border because of violence.

Election fraud

It has been more than a month since the Aug. 20 balloting that aimed to strengthen the Afghan government but instead undermined its credibility both at home and with key allies like the United States.

The vote was characterized by rampant ballot-box stuffing, and fraud investigators threw out nearly a third of Karzai's votes. That move dropped Karzai below the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright, forcing the runoff vote.

A bevy of international figures, including U.S. Sen. John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, were involved in convincing Karzai to accept the runoff vote.

U.N. and U.S. representatives were still involved in negotiations with the two about a power-sharing deal as recently as Sunday morning, according to a Western diplomat who was familiar with the talks but spoke anonymously because of the sensitivity of the discussions.

Abdullah has said his decision not to participate in the runoff is final. But in a sign of how much the situation is in flux, a spokesman said Monday that they could be open to still having a second round if it is delayed to put in safeguards to prevent fraud.



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