Under Pressure, Karzai Endorses Afghan Election Runoff

JEFFREY BROWN:

Afghan President Hamid Karzai bowed to pressure today and agreed to a runoff election on November 7. The announcement came as the Obama administration debates the future of U.S. involvement.

Gwen Ifill has our lead story report.

GWEN IFILL:

Karzai's announcement came two months after he was declared winner of an August election that ended amid widespread charges of fraud. He spoke in his native Pashto shortly after the country's independent election commission ordered the runoff.

But international pressure that had been brought to bear was evident. He was flanked by U.S. Senator John Kerry and the top U.N. envoy in Afghanistan, Kai Eide.

HAMID KARZAI, president, Afghanistan: We consider the decision made by the independent election commission as legal and right. It agrees with Afghanistan's constitution, and it insists on the national interests of Afghanistan, and strengthens our country's democracy. And, fortunately, it's a main step toward development.

GWEN IFILL:

The news conference, aired live on state TV, came a day after a U.N.-backed audit threw out nearly a million votes cast for Karzai. That dropped him below the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Today, the president made no mention of vote fraud.

HAMID KARZAI:

I call upon our nation to change this into an opportunity to strengthen our resolve and determination to move this country forward and participate in the new round of elections.

The people of Afghanistan will go to ballot boxes to choose between the two candidates who got more votes in the last election. Fortunately, I'm one of those candidates, and the other one is Dr. Abdullah. I wish him happiness and prosperity.