Karzai agrees to new election; will it matter?

A number of follow-up points and comments need to be made about Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreeing to a run-off election.

First, in the best “mistakes were made” tradition, he didn’t apologize for the election fraud. Second, while he welcomed international monitors, he didn’t call for more of them. Third, he didn’t say what he would do to address the mistakes that were made.

Meanwhile, Ed Cohen is naïve indeed if he thinks any U.S. President will support 30 years of partnership with Afghanistan, if it involves heavy lifting. That said, as the election shows, we do, per Cohen, need to partner with the Afghan people, not a government riddled with some degree of corruption. To the degree we can, the same is true in Pakistan.