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Abdullah Abdullah's move yesterday to pull out of the second round of the Afghan election was the only real option left for the main opposition candidate. Had it been contested, the runoff would have been just as corrupt as the first round, with stuffed ballots, ghost polling stations, and supporters who voted early and often. The fraud would have been overseen by the same network of cronies who had tried to push President Hamid Karzai through the first round, which was why the incumbent rejected Dr Abdullah's demand to replace the chair of the so-called Independent Election Commission (IEC). This time, however, Washington wants a quick coronation, so a blind eye would have been turned to fraud. Thus Dr Abdullah had no choice but to pull out "“ and he did so with some dignity, and...