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PARIS — U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke tried to play down worries about Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday as mounting charges of election fraud raised questions about years of costly international efforts to help his country.
Holbrooke, America's special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, was joining 26 other envoys for talks about international aid and how to deal with the ballot-stuffing charges tarnishing the man who long embodied the world's hope for the country and its democracy.
"Is the international community concerned about fraud and irregularities? That's a legitimate concern," Holbrooke said in Paris, adding, however, that he had "no problem" dealing with Karzai in the meantime. He said "issues of fraud were not much on the table" when he met with the Afghan president on Aug. 21, the day after the election.
He compared the inconclusive outcome of the vote to uncertainty over who won the U.S. state of Minnesota's senatorial election last year, which took months to decide.
"It certainly won't take that long in Afghanistan," he said.
Also at the talks were envoys from Britain, Germany, Russia, China and Japan.
The allegations, along with low turnout in Afghanistan's violent south, could strip the election of legitimacy and discredit the United States and other countries that have staked their Afghan policies on support for a credible government to combat the Taliban, corruption and the country's huge drug trade.
The host of Wednesday's meetings, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, acknowledged the stains on Karzai's reputation.
"We will help (the incoming government) in the hopes that it is legitimate," Kouchner said. He said the international community wants a president and government in Afghanistan that is "the most legitimate possible, the most acceptable possible."
The talks came after an explosion Wednesday east of Kabul ripped through a crowd of government officials inaugurating a mosque, killing the country's deputy intelligence chief and 22 others. The attack illustrated the Taliban's renewed strength.
In Brussels, NATO's Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance would remain committed to Afghanistan regardless of the outcome of the vote, adding it was up to the Afghan people to judge whether the electoral process was legitimate.
"Whatever happens, and I hope final results will be credible, we must remember we don't have 60,000 troops in Afghanistan simply for the elections," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters on Tuesday.
"We shouldn't forget that we have successfully kept Afghanistan from becoming a safe haven for terrorists," he said.
Vote tallies released Monday based on almost half of the voting stations showed Karzai leading with 45.8 percent, ahead of challenger Abdullah Abdullah with 33.2 percent. Karzai needs 50 percent to avoid a runoff.
Accusations of voter intimidation and large-scale ballot-stuffing have poured into the Electoral Complaint Commission, which must investigate before final results can be announced.
Abdullah raised the stakes Wednesday with new accusations suggesting the Independent Election Commission was cooperating in the alleged fraud.
In the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Wednesday, an official with Abdullah's campaign warned that his supporters could take to the streets if there is a perception that fraud is being overlooked.
Holbrooke has played a key role in managing the election fallout, but he and many other international officials have refrained from taking a public stance so far.
He insisted Wednesday that he has no "preference" for any one candidate or for a second round of elections, despite reports he has pushed for a runoff.
Holbrooke and U.N. representative in Afghanistan Kai Eide dismissed talk of installing an internationally accepted figure into Karzai's administration as a way to make his re-election more palatable.
"The idea of a senior international figure within the government strikes me as an odd suggestion," Holbrooke said. "Let's not leave that on the table."
Afghans bristled at the foreign envoys' meeting in faraway Paris.
"This is not good for foreigners to make any commitment about an important issue such as the election in Afghanistan," said Mohammad Qasim Akhgir, political analyst and chief editor of newspaper 8-AM. "I wish this meeting could be held inside Afghanistan, so we as Afghans could find a solution for our problems."
The dilemma comes as rising U.S. and NATO casualties are undermining support for the war in some countries with forces in Afghanistan. August was the deadliest month of the war for U.S. forces — at least 49 deaths. Another died Tuesday, just one day into September. President Barack Obama committed 21,000 new American forces to Afghanistan this year, bringing the total U.S. commitment to 68,000 by the end of the year. A record 100,000 U.S. and NATO troops are stationed in Afghanistan.
Wednesday's meeting is the latest in a series since Paris hosted a donors conference for Afghanistan a year ago that garnered pledges of more than $21 billion.
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Associated Press reporters Rahim Faiez and Heidi Vogt in Afghanistan and Slobodan Lekic in Brussels contributed to this report.
