Kabul - Afghan President Hamid Karzai promised Tuesday to assemble a "government of unity," a day after the presidential runoff was cancelled and he declared the winner. "On the government of the future, it will be a government of unity and it will be a government for all Afghan people," Karzai said at a press conference in his first public appearance since he won a second five-year term.
The president left open whether the new administration would include the man he was to have faced in Saturday's runoff, Abdullah Abdullah.
"My government will be for all Afghans, and all those who want to work with me are most welcome regardless of whether they opposed me in the election or whether they supported me in the election," he said.
Karzai's onetime foreign minister came in second after Karzai in the August 20 election but on Sunday withdrew from the runoff, alleging that it, like the first round of voting, would not be fair.
The August election was marred by massive fraud, mostly in favour of Karzai. A UN-backed investigation discounted about 1 million ballots, or one-third of Karzai's votes, forcing him into the runoff.
But with Abdullah's withdrawal, the Afghan Independent Election Commission on Monday called off the runoff and declared Karzai the winner. However, the method of Karzai's re-election to a new five-year term cast doubts over the legitimacy of his new government.
Karzai needs the support of other political parties at a time when his country faces a stubborn insurgency by Taliban militants, who are at their most powerful in the eight years since a US-led military invasion toppled their government.
Persuading the Taliban to join mainstream politics would be "our national objective," Karzai said at the press conference in the presidential palace, adding, "This was my first and main call."
"As we begin our new government, we will be reinforcing and adding to our efforts in order to bring all Afghans who for one or the other reason have gone away from their country and are taking guns against their country," he said.
But the Taliban charged in a statement sent to the media hours before Karzai's speech that the result of the election was decided by Washington and London because Karzai failed to win by the people's votes.
It also said the cancellation of the runoff proved that the Taliban succeeded in stopping the process: "Our hero mujahedin paralyzed the whole election process, and their ground and air forces could not stop our mujahedin's attacks."
The Taliban carried out more attacks on August 20 than any day since their ouster in late 2001. The militant group also vowed to disrupt the runoff vote.
Karzai also said Tuesday that he would make fighting corruption, for which is government has long been criticized, a priority.
"We will use all possible means to eradicate this stain from our lap," he said.
"We are aware of the difficulties of our governance and the environment in which we live," Karzai said, adding, "We keep trying our best to make sure that the wishes of our people come true towards an effective and clean government."
A day earlier, US President Barack Obama urged Karzai to begin a "new chapter" for his country by initiating reforms and cracking down on graft.
Obama telephoned Karzai after he was declared the election winner to offer congratulations but also to urge him to get serious about improving the government, fighting corruption and speeding up the training of Afghan security forces.
