Hamid Karzai

President Obama's new envoy to Afghanistan met with President Hamid Karzai on Saturday amid a downturn in U.S.-Afghan relations and an upswing in militant violence. Karzai says he still has not spoken with the new U.S. president almost a month after his inauguration, a sign that Karzai no longer enjoys the favored status he had under former President Bush. "There is tension between us and the U.S.

An Afghan delegation will join a U.S.-led policy review of the war in the region, President Hamid Karzai and U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke announced Sunday. Karzai and Holbrooke were overtly cordial to each other in a 13-minute media briefing at which neither took questions. Holbrooke allowed Karzai to announce that President Obama had approved the request for the Afghan delegation. Holbrooke also said the U.S. supported the announcement of the Aug.

President Hamid Karzai widened his lead over his main challenger in election returns released Saturday, creeping toward the 50% mark that would enable him to avoid a runoff in the divisive presidential contest. Karzai's top challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, stepped up his fraud charges, raising doubts as to whether the former foreign minister's followers would accept the incumbent if he wins in the first round. Accusations of fraud in the Aug. 20 vote have poured in to the Electoral Complaints Commission, which must investigate the allegations before final results can be announced.

Hamid Karzai begins another term as Afghanistan's president with a long to-do list. The Obama administration has made clear to him that he must crack down on corruption, install a team of technocrats to run the country and weed out warlords and narco-traffickers. Those are all important priorities, but there is something else he should be doing as well: acting as a wartime leader. So far, Karzai has been oddly disengaged from the war raging around him. Rarely if ever does he visit his own troops in the field, go to hospitals to comfort the wounded or honor the dead, as President Obama did so stirringly with his recent middle-of-the-night visit to Dover Air Force Base.

President Hamid Karzai extended his lead over his top challenger in Afghanistan's presidential election, new vote results showed Wednesday, but remains short of the 50% threshold that would allow him to avoid a two-man runoff. Afghan election officials are slowly releasing results from last week's presidential election, and final certified results will not be ready until at least mid-September, after dozens of serious complaints of fraud have been investigated. Low turnout and the fraud allegations have cast a pall over the vote, seen as crucial to efforts to stabilize the country, which is racked by Taliban insurgents and doubts over its fragile democracy.

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 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.

Fifty-nine Americans died in October fighting to protect the corrupt Afghan electoral process that resulted in a second five-year term for Hamid Karzai. Since July and the run-up to the August election, 195 Americans were killed and more than 1,000 were wounded, a higher casualty rate than during the 2007 military "surge" in Iraq. A principal purpose cited by President Obama for sending 17,000 more combat troops to Afghanistan earlier this year was to protect the election, which, according to most observers, Karzai stole.

The dilapidated soccer stadium, a onetime Taliban execution ground, rang today with excited shouts of "Karzai! Kar-ZAI!" The chants weren't a signal of support for Afghanistan's beleaguered president. Far from it. They were the raucous response to a shouted question -- "Who's the one who failed at governing?" -- from a speaker warming up the crowd for Hamid Karzai's principal rival, Abdullah Abdullah. When the presidential campaign began two months ago, Karzai looked like the hands-down favorite to win a second five-year term.

Politicians love photo-ops. So when Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) appeared alongside Hamid Karzai as the beleaguered Afghan president announced that he would agree to a runoff election, it was hardly surprising. Kerry was doing what politicians do. Moreover, the senator was in Kabul to supplement the Obama administration's efforts to lean on Karzai to hold another presidential vote, given widespread evidence that the one held in August was rigged. When Karzai claimed victory then, his main opponent, former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, cried foul, a chorus of international criticism arose and an Afghan government infamous for its ineptitude and sleaziness looked even more illegitimate.

With a week to go before a scheduled runoff election, Afghan President Hamid Karzai's challenger called a gathering of top supporters for today at which aides said he was likely to pull out. The threat of a withdrawal by former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah threw into disarray a vote that U.S. officials had hoped would produce a credible partner in Kabul. President Obama is deliberating over proposals to send thousands more U.S. troops, and having an Afghan government that voters accept is an important element in Washington's strategy to combat the Taliban and other insurgents.