Senior US and European envoys gather in Paris today to thrash out a response to the Afghan elections, in which a rising tide of fraud allegations is threatening to discredit the results.
Diplomats suggest that America may try to force President Karzai into a second round with his closest rival, Abdullah Abdullah, to show him the limits of his power Against a background of continuing military losses, the envoys will face up to the reality that last month’s election has failed to establish an Afghan leadership with new legitimacy to fight the Taleban and wage war on corruption and the drug trade.
One French diplomat described the talks, led by Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative to the region, as “attempting to make the best