Sources: Abdullah to pull out of Afghan runoff (&O doesn't like Karzai-pray for our troops)

AP ^ | 10-31-09 | Heidi Vogt, Edith M. Lederer

[STARWISE]

Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah plans to boycott next week's runoff against incumbent Hamid Karzai following a breakdown in talks on how to fix the country's electoral crisis, two people familiar with the discussions said.

A boycott would severely undermine a vote intended to affirm the Afghan government's credibility. However, an Abdullah spokesman said no final decision had been made on the candidate's pullout. It was possible that word of the boycott was a negotiating tactic by the Abdullah camp.

The political stalemate in Kabul comes as President Barack Obama has been meeting with his advisers to try to determine U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, including troop levels. A weakened Afghan government will make it harder for Obama to get public support for his efforts.

*snip*

A Westerner close to talks between the two sides said their agenda also included a power-sharing proposal by the challenger and cited both Karzai and Abdullah as saying that talks broke down Friday, prompting Abdullah to decide on a boycott of the Nov. 7 runoff.

An Afghan figure close to Abdullah said Saturday that the boycott decision came after a contentious and fruitless meeting Thursday over Abdullah's conditions for a runoff.

[STARWISE]

Dear Lord, protect our brave soldiers, sailors, airmen and coasties, Coalition partners and contractors in harm's way. Pray wisdom, duty and love of freedom and country for those who write the next chapter, military and civilian.

[STARWISE]

Afghan vote in the balance, Abdullah cancels trip

Excerpt:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s election rival Abdullah Abdullah canceled a planned trip to India on Saturday, his advisers said, heightening speculation he would pull out of next week’s disputed run-off vote.

Afghanistan has been racked by weeks of political uncertainty after widespread fraud marred the first round, with security another major concern after a resurgent Taliban vowed to disrupt the November 7 run-off vote.

*snip*

Obama met U.S. military leaders in Washington on Friday.

Abdullah, Karzai’s former foreign minister, had been due to leave for India on Saturday for a leadership conference but his aides said he canceled the trip and would likely hold a media conference in Kabul on Sunday.

*snip*

Western diplomats have said privately Abdullah may have overplayed his hand when he gave Karzai an ultimatum last week to sack Afghanistan’s top election official and three ministers in a bid to avoid a repeat of the first-round fraud.

That deadlines expires later on Sunday but Karzai has already indicated he would not give in to Abdullah’s demand. Abdullah has not said what he would do if the officials were not sacked.

Citing an unidentified Western source it said was close to the Afghan leadership, CNN reported on Friday that talks between Karzai and Abdullah had broken down and that Abdullah, whose support comes mainly from the Tajik north, would likely pull out.

http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE59T1YY20091031

[livius]

This is probably a strategy on Carville and Obama’s part. I wonder if they determined that even by massive cheating, Abdullah couldn’t win the election and therefore some other strategy was necessary. And why did Abdullah go to India?

[element92]

AA’s best move is to boycott.

[ricks_place]

The Afghanistan election was imperfect but so was the last US Presidential contest. Obama forced an Afghan runoff knowing full well the level of violence would drastically increase. Maybe if the violence increased enough, Obama could declare the “war of necessity” unwinnable, withdraw all troops, leave our allies to dusty death, prove the meme of the left.

[VRWCTexan]

Thanks for posting -

IMO this is a significant development, and will prove to be critical in obama’s decision to weaken our Afgan committment (just one more fig-leaf to hide behind)

Likewise I continue to be confused by the decisons of the FR admins as to what does, of does not, qualify as Breaking news - I had no sooner posted this same item in BN six hours previously, than it was immediartley removed?

[VOA]

“This is probably a strategy on Carville and Obama’s part.”

Yep: suspects he (A-A) may not win, so be a crybaby, take up his
toys and leave the playground.

Karzai has his downsides (e.g., tolerates too much corruption, etc)
but the dude did step up in the crunch after 9-11 with plenty of
risk to his own life.

Somebody Karzai trusts should explain to him that even if Afghanistan
isn’t the USA...he needs to understand that at some point, someone else
needs to run Afghanistan. And that he isn’t the start of an Afghani dynasty.
And that even King George III said George Washington was either the
greatest or craziest man ever for not turning himself into the King
Of America, when Washington paid his respects, turned over power
and headed for Mt. Vernon.

[VRWCTexan]

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=110100&sectionid=351020403

This appears to be new news:

US okay with one-man show in Afghan election

The US says it would approve of a go-it-alone attempt by Hamid Karzai at another presidency, should his rival Abdullah Abdullah withdraw from the run-off.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she would not consider the attempt ‘illegitimate,’ Politico reported.

Karzai claimed 54 percent of the vote in August presidential polls, which was later denounced as rigged. After about one million of Karzai’s votes were disqualified, his tally dropped below 50 percent and resulted in a run-off being scheduled for November 7.

Abdullah, however, said that he was likely to stay away from the run-off, insisting that Karzai had not acknowledged his conditions for a fair contest.

“I’m not going to comment on what any of the candidates might decide to do,” Clinton said. “This is not unprecedented by any means. Other countries have faced this where one candidate decides not to go forward. We see that happen in our own country where for whatever combination of reasons one of the candidates decides not to go forward. I don’t think it has anything to do with the legitimacy of the election. It’s a personal choice which may or may not be made.”

______________________________________

Good! - any attempted new election was just going to get many innocent Afgans, and some of our troops killed - for no good purposes

[Candor7]

Karzai wins by default, Obama turns his nose up at Karzai, and in come the Russians. Putin is taking Obama to the woodshed.

If Obama has any learning curve at all, he will give McChrystal his 50 k troops. If not, Obama will continue to be taken to the woodshed by Putin.

Afghanistan is only a couple of steps away from joining the Russian hegemony.Karzai sees the Obama writing on his wall.

[fortunecookie]

This is probably a strategy on Carville and Obama’s part. I wonder if they determined that even by massive cheating, Abdullah couldn’t win the election and therefore some other strategy was necessary.

I guess I'm just getting up to speed. I can't believe (and was initially a little surprised) what the election has to do with Obama or Carville, how this isn't 'meddling', but on Iran's 'election' of Ahmadinejad, they didn't want to dare meddle. And the point of Abdullah, are they counting on him to be some empty suit they control? They will throw him to the wolves (and Taliban) along with the troops still deployed and the Afghans, too? Pull out of the runoff - now it makes more sense.