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McClatchy Newspapers Obama administration, Democrats turn up heat on Karzai
By John Walcott and Hal Bernton, McClatchy Newspapers 28 mins ago
WASHINGTON -- As two commissions reviewing allegations of fraud in Afghanistan's August 20 presidential election haggled in Kabul Sunday, a top Obama administration official and a senior Senate Democrat publicly turned up the heat on Afghan President Hamid Karzai to find a credible end to the electoral dispute.
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said on CNN that President Barack Obama wouldn't make a decision on his military commanders' request for as many as 80,000 additional American troops in Afghanistan until the administration is convinced that the country has a credible central government.
"It would be reckless to make a decision on U.S. troop level if, in fact, you haven't done a thorough analysis of whether, in fact, there's an Afghan partner ready to fill that space that the U.S. troops would create and become a true partner in governing the Afghan country," Emanuel said.
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Two administration officials, both speaking on the condition of anonymity because they aren't authorized to speak publicly, told McClatchy Sunday that the U.N. commission has concluded that more than 75 percent of the 1.5 million questionable ballots it's reviewed were fraudulent votes for Karzai.
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