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Barack Obama has come under intense criticism by hawkish American conservatives for the amount of time he is taking to decide on a strategy for Afghanistan. The legitimacy of the Afghan government is one of the key unknowns holding back a decision by the president. Without a dependable and minimally effective governing partner in Afghanistan, it's unclear that any foreign-led strategy to stabilise and rebuild the country can actually work, and thus it is wise for the president to hold off making a decision until we have a clearer view of that partner.

Hamid Karzai's announcement on Tuesday that he will support a run-off election, after Afghanistan's independent election commission recognised that wide-scale vote-rigging had taken place, is welcome bit of good news amid the...