KABUL, AFGHANISTAN — A United Nations-backed panel Monday tossed out hundreds of thousands of ballots cast in August for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and independent election observers said the new figures dictated that a runoff election should take place.
Karzai and election officials loyal to him appeared to balk initially at accepting the fraud investigators' finding that he did not attain the majority needed for a first-round win in the landmark presidential election. That would trigger a runoff with his main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.
While Abdullah renewed demands for a runoff vote, Western diplomats and the Obama administration urgently sought to persuade Karzai to acknowledge the validity of the panel's finding. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said she was encouraged by the direction events were taking.
Failure to accept the election panel's finding, diplomats and administration officials warned Karzai, could risk triggering a constitutional crisis and raise the specter of street violence and ethnic strife.
Millions of Afghans risked their safety to go to the polls on election day, defying Taliban threats and a drumbeat of attacks in the weeks leading up to the vote.
The election has already been a huge disappointment to the West, which had hoped the balloting would showcase Afghanistan's nascent democracy and lend credibility to not only the central government but the entire war effort, now in its ninth year.
Two months of intense wrangling over the election results have delayed key decisions in Washington and among NATO allies on troop levels and battlefield strategy in Afghanistan. The White House has openly questioned whether the election would lead to a legitimate partnership with the next Afghan administration.
The White House has been leaning on Karzai, stressing over the weekend that it would delay a decision on additional U.S. troops until the election issue was sorted out. Army Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the U.S. and allied commander, has asked for up to 40,000 additional American troops, but White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said in interviews that it would be "reckless" to send more personnel without knowing how the Afghan government was taking shape.
"It is now up to the Afghans to make this legitimate," said Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary.
