Dispatches

Former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad is wrong.

After Afghans went to the polls on Aug. 20, incumbent President Hamid Karzai claimed victory. Then Karzai was forced to accept that widespread fraud made a run-off with top challenger Abdullah Abdullah necessary. Then, on Sunday, Abdullah unexpectedly dropped out of the race, saying that there were no evidence that the second round of voting would be anymore fair than the first. On Monday, the Afghan Independent Electoral Commission (which critics say is independant in name only, since its commissioners were hired by Karzai) announced Karzai the winner.

Khalilzad has said that Abdullah's withdrawal "puts the election issue behind us."

Hardly.

The U.S. government, which congratulated Karzai in a statement from its embassy in Kabul, may be content to whistle past the graveyard, but it's fighting history. This is, after all, the same nation that supported the corruption-laden leadership of Nguyễn Văn Thiệu  in Vietnam and Syngman Rhee in Korea. Both men ultimately lost popular support of their countrymen — and it's probably worth noting that both men died in exile in the United States.

Although he might maintain the support of the United States government, Karzai has little hope of cobbling together a legitimate government from the wreckage of this election nightmare.

Meanwhile, tens of thousand of U.S. service members, including no small number of local service members, are heading to Afghanistan. President Barack Obama's military commanders want even more troops. Popular opinion back home is hopelessly befuddled, though it seems to be turning against additional troop increases.  And the number of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan is on pace to more than double last year's number.

No, the election issue is not behind us. Not even close. No matter what course the U.S. takes in Afghanistan, this mess will fester for a long time to come.