Karzai vows inclusive government

KABUL – Re-elected Afghan President Hamid Karzai vowed yesterday to form an inclusive government after stern warnings from Western supporters he would have to work harder to root out corruption.

Afghan election officials on Monday cancelled a needless presidential run-off vote after Karzai’s only rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew citing serious concerns about the election.The outcome leaves Washington and other Western supporters to work with a partner whose legitimacy has been questioned, while Karzai himself faces the prospect of having to work with a newly strengthened opposition.Karzai’s return removes at least one obstacle as US President Barack Obama weighs whether to send up to 40 000 more troops to Afghanistan, where violence this year reached its worst levels since the Taliban were in 2001.Faced with stern warnings from Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and other Western leaders, Karzai vowed to form an inclusive government.’My government will be for all Afghans and all those who want to work with me are most welcome,’ Karzai said in a nationally televised victory speech.’There will be crucial changes in our future government. Now we are determined to use all our forces, by any means, to remove this stain (of corruption) from our soil,’ he said.Afghanistan endured weeks of political uncertainty after the August 20 first round was marred by widespread fraud, much of it in favour of Karzai, a crisis deepened by a resurgent Taliban who had vowed to disrupt the vote.The Taliban termed Karzai’s return a farce and vowed to continue its fight to drive foreign forces out of Afghanistan.The Islamist militants launched sporadic attacks in the first round and vowed to disrupt the run-off. They said their fighters had ‘paralysed’ the electoral process with their attacks, including an assault on a UN guest-house last week in which five foreign UN staff were killed. – Nampa-Reuters