“Afghanistan’s alternative: run-off vote or Taliban”

In Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai is facing pressure from the international community to accept a run off. Terrorism expert Walid Phares said even rival forces would prefer a political process to the Taliban.

The UN electoral complaints commission in Afghanistan says there is evidence of fraud in August’s presidential vote. It suggests there could be a run off between Karzai and his nearest rival.

The White House says no more troops will be sent to the country before the allegations are investigated.

“The alternative is either the political process with all the problems it has in it, the run or the Taliban,” said Phares, from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.

“There can always be a consensus inside Afghanistan, even between the contending forces that would better come up with the political process, even like in Iraq or any other countries that had problems with democracy, then to go back to the Taliban,” he added.