The candidate who will face Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a runoff election next month said Friday that he won't join Karzai's government if the incumbent wins another term, but instead will remain in opposition. Abdullah Abdullah, who served as foreign minister in Karzai's government until quitting nearly four years ago, said he would congratulate Karzai if he "is elected through a transparent and credible process." "My trust in becoming a candidate was not to be part of the same ...

The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, plans to address NATO defense ministers Friday about the next steps for the military strategy. The NATO meeting in Bratislava, Slovakia, comes as the United States wraps up a review of its own military strategy in Afghanistan. "As has been said in Washington, I think the analytical phase is coming to an end and probably over the next two or three weeks we're going to be considering specific options and teeing ...

Afghanistan's president is downplaying accusations of widespread fraud in his country's recent elections, but he's emphasizing the importance of a runoff for the sake of ensuring peace and stability in his nascent and war-torn democracy. "We must have a second round," said Hamid Karzai, speaking in a taped and exclusive interview for the Fareed Zakaria GPS show that airs Sunday on CNN. "If we don't do that, we would be insulting democracy. And I pledge to respect the vote ...

Mexican soldiers have captured the second in command of one of the nation's most ruthless drug cartels, the military said. "We must have a second round," said Hamid Karzai, speaking in a taped and exclusive interview for the Fareed Zakaria GPS show that airs Sunday on CNN. "If we don't do that, we would be insulting democracy. And I pledge to respect the vote of the people." In the first interview since a runoff was announced, Karzai said there ...

In a blizzard of personal meetings in Kabul, Afghanistan, and in telephone conversations from Washington, U.S. officials lobbied Afghan President Hamid Karzai to abide by the nation's constitution and accept a runoff election. Karzai announced Tuesday that he will take part in a presidential runoff vote in two weeks. Senior State Department officials say Secretary of State Hillary Clinton spoke with Karzai and with his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah. One official told CNN that in a phone call to Karzai ...

An Iranian-American man has been sentenced to 15 years in an Iranian prison for his role in protests after the disputed presidential election in June, a U.S. State Department spokesman said Tuesday. The United States is "deeply concerned" that Kian Tajbakhsh has been sentenced to prison, spokesman Ian Kelly said. "Mr. Tajbakhsh poses no threat to the Iranian government or its national security," Kelly said. "Given the groundless nature of charges against him we call on Iran to grant his ...

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to announce Tuesday whether he will accept findings that indicate he did not secure enough votes to win a second term. Karzai is scheduled to speak at a news conference, a day after an independent analysis of election data found that the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission invalidated nearly a third of Karzai's votes from the August 20 presidential election because of "clear and convincing evidence of fraud." Those findings brought Karzai under the 50 ...

The U.N.-backed commission charged with investigating fraud in Afghanistan's recent presidential election Monday invalidated ballots from more than 200 polling stations.

With a runoff presidential election in Afghanistan appearing likely, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told CNN on Friday that she expects the current president, Hamid Karzai, to win. "It is likely that they will find that President Karzai got very close to the 50-plus-1" in August's balloting, she said in an exclusive CNN interview, referring to the 50 percent plus one vote needed to avoid a runoff. "... I think one can conclude that the likelihood of him winning a ...

The 1994 elections were approaching, and House Republicans were on a mission to take control of their chamber for the first time in nearly 50 years. Buoyed by an electorate skeptical of then-President Clinton after his unsuccessful push for health care reform, Republicans charged forward with what experts say they are lacking now: a clear message and a leader. With Newt Gingrich at the helm of a legislative agenda called the "Contract with America," Republicans handed Democrats a blistering ...