The appearance of extensive fraud in Afghanistan’s recent presidential election threatens the Obama administration’s efforts to help Afghans escape from a 30-year nightmare of warfare, warlordism, and corrupt misrule. There are pitfalls to any position President Obama takes on the “clear and convincing evidence of fraud’’ that a United Nations-backed Electoral Complaints Commission has found. There is a danger in being identified with a reelected President Hamid Karzai who lacks legitimacy - and a different kind of risk in acting like a colonial power that discards its former favorite at its own convenience.
The principle guiding US policy ought to be respect for the democratic rules of the game - as opposed to backstage support either for Karzai or his principal challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. In the same vein, Obama ought to address a public message to the Afghan people. He needs to tell them that America’s aim is to assure their safety, their right to honest and competent governance, their children’s access to education, and their escape from poverty, drug lords, and the Taliban.
Obama should also make it clear that the United States will wait for an honest recount of the vote, and that, if the result requires a runoff, he intends to respect the true choice of the Afghan electorate.
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