Karzai gets second term after only rival pulls out of run-off (Pic: Ahmad Massood/ AP)

Hamid Karzai will stay put in the Presidential Palace, after Afghanistan’s election commission canceled the second round of a presidential poll.

Karzai was declared the winner after his only rival Abdullah-Abdullah withdrew from the race.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the decision was made because of the cost and risk of organising the vote on Saturday, and because a one-horse race would raise doubts about the president’s legitimacy.

“The Independent Election Commission declares the esteemed Hamid Karzai as the president … because he was the winner of the first round and the only candidate in the second round,” Azizullah Ludin, the Karzai-appointed IEC chief, told a packed news conference.

Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the November 7 run-off election against President Hamid Karzai after Karzai refused to fire Ludin- the top election official who oversaw the August 20th voter fraud debacle.

While the canceled election deeply undermines Hamid Karzai, it also saves the world the trouble of watching another violent, fraudulent and low turn-out contest.

While Senator John Kerry was being widely praised for recently convincing President Hamid Karzai to enter the run-off election, as Karzai was legally required to do, some started wondering, ‘If Karzai cheated the first time, won’t he just do it again, especially when the U.N is sending fewer election monitors?’

That question certainly crossed Abdullah’s mind. Several days ago, Abdullah submitted his list of demands.

Abdullah demanded the firing of Azizullah Lodin, the head of the amusingly-titled Independent Election Commission, along with two hundred of his staffers. It was a demand that Karzai was sure to reject, and frankly, it would have been incredibly difficult to replace two hundred election officials in less than two weeks and have any confidence that they would not be corrupt themselves.

It will be hard for the Obama administration to spin this as good news. Secretary Clinton responded, “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.”

That is why Abdullah added a caveat that if his supporters could monitor poll locations and vote counting, he would remain in the race.

“These conditions are not that difficult, and I have thought about the lawful and legal issues of all conditions,” Abdullah said at the time, submitting his request to both the Election Commission and the U.N.

Needless to say, his conditions were not met.

The Election Commission will provide more polling locations, the U.N will send fewer monitors, and there will thus be more opportunities for fraud.

It will be hard for the Obama administration to spin this as good news. Secretary Clinton responded, “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.”

Well, it could be “whatever combination of reasons”, but concern about widespread fraud by the incumbent seems like a solid one.

This pull-out makes Senator Kerry’s work seem not only wasteful, but actually harmful, as he made Karzai look weak among the local population without making him seem more credible in return.

There is some speculation that Abdullah threatened to boycott the election to get a power-sharing arrangement out of Karzai.

That doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me, as he’s denied interest in power-sharing before, and has already served as foreign minister in the Karzai administration before quitting in 2005.

It seems clear he doesn’t want to work with the man.

Obama probably doesn’t want to work with him either, but you go to war with the corrupt dictator you have, not the corrupt dictator you want to have.

That’s why you should think hard about not going to war.

Abdullah was born in Kabul in 1960, and graduated from medical school there with a degree in ophtalmology in 1983 (Ophtalmology deals with eye disease and surgery). Like Karzai, he is an ethnic Pashtun.

After finishing his residency, Abdullah worked in the Ophthalmology Hospital for Afghan Refugees in Peshawar, Pakistan and also became the Director of Healthcare for the Resistance Front. In 1986, by which time the Soviet Occupation had turned especially sour, Abdullah became the Special Advisor and Chief Assistant to Commander Ahmad Shah Massoud. Massoud was not only a legendary insurgent against the Soviets, but he led the Northern Alliance military resistance against the Taliban. Some suggest it was no coincidence that he was murdered by Al-Qaeda before the terrorist attacks of September 11th. Abdullah himself served as Defense Minister from 1992-1996. After the Taliban take-over, Abdullah served as Foreign Minister of the government in exile, and was a key diplomat to the west until the war in Afghanistan began in 2001.

Abdullah was Minister of Foreign Affairs for then-Chairman Karzai’s transitional government, and became his first Foreign Minister, a position he held until 2006. Interestingly, Abdullah pushed for Afghanistan to adopt a parlimentary system, arguing that presidencies outside the United States too often led to autocracies.

This isn’t the most detailed biography, but then, we don’t get to vote. We only get to know who our potential partners are, Abdullah’s background makes me inclined to root for him over Karzai

Janos Marton blogs at outofafghanistan.blogspot.com

Since our Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbroke, apparently hasn’t talked to Karzai in weeks since they got into a shouting match, the task of persuading Karzai to accept the election results fell to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Ambassador Karl eikenberry and Senator John Kerry. They did good, and Karzai is now in for a run-off, scheduled for November 7.

Once everyone is done patting themselves on the back, however, they should consider U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon observation that it will be a “huge challenge” to overcome the challenges of widespread fraud that marred the August 20th election.

Karzai’s main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, commented, “While I am prepared to go for a run-off, at the same time my door is open.” This open-ended statement, Abdullah conceded, could either mean he is open to a power-sharing agreement (though not “a cabinet position”), or that the logistics of winter and lack of security could render a run-off impossible. He seems like a shrewd operator- he knows the spotlight is on Karzai, and he can only lose by injecting himself into the fray.

Karzai, incidentally, has rejected the idea of power-sharing, claiming, “There is no space for a coalition government in the law.” Glad to see his burgeoning interest in the rule of law. There’s probably space for more of that.