Come home, Karzai urges Taliban 'brothers'

Published: Tue, 03 Nov 2009 12:45:00

Re-elected Afghan president Hamid Karzai has called on the Taliban to end their four-year insurgency and "come home". Mr Karzai was declared the winner of August's presidential elections yesterday by the country's independent election commission (IEC) when it ruled Saturday's planned runoff could not longer go ahead given the withdrawal of the other candidate, Abdullah Abdullah. In a muted victory speech last night, Mr Karzai said the Taliban, who he called "brothers", should "come home and embrace their land".

After winning a second five-year term, the president pledged an inclusive government for "all parts of the country". "Our government will be the mirror of Afghanistan so everyone can see themselves in the mirror," he said. Imminent "crucial changes" in Afghanistan's government would see the "blemish" of corruption firmly tackled, he added.

Last night US president Barack Obama, who is yet to decide on a pending deployment of 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, warned President Karzai of the importance of combating corruption. "I emphasised that this has to be a point in time in which we write a new chapter based on improved governance, a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption [and] joint efforts to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces," he told journalists at the White House last night. A runoff vote was scheduled after a United Nations-backed commission disqualified hundreds of thousands of votes due to fraud, meaning Mr Karzai polled below the 50 per cent necessary to declare an outright victory.

Despite initially agreeing to contest the second round, former foreign minister Dr Abdullah withdrew this weekend, citing concerns over vote-rigging once more. President Karzai admitted it "would have been better" if the runoff had taken place. "But again we are happy the constitution was respected... it went in the right way," he said.

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