Kabul, Oct 20, (RHC).- Under heavy pressure from the Barack Obama administration, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has conceded that he fell short of a first-round victory in the occupied nation’s fraud-filled presidential election. Officials said Karzai has moved toward accepting the findings of a United Nations audit that stripped him of nearly a third of his votes. This leaves Karzai below the 50 percent threshold that would have allowed him to avoid a runoff and declare victory over his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah.

Afghanistan now says it will hold a deciding round on November 7th, but there are reports in The New York Times that some Obama administration officials are quietly pushing for Karzai and Abdullah to form a coalition government to avoid a runoff altogether. Earlier today, Abdullah called for the formation of an interim government to shepherd the country through the winter if it’s too difficult or dangerous to organize a runoff in the coming weeks.

Meanwhile, the Times of London reports Afghanistan’s security chiefs have been ordered to make emergency preparations for a second round of voting. United Nations spokesperson Aleem Siddique said the international community is ready to assist with the runoff election.

Washington.- The White House has said that it will take no decision on sending more occupation troops to Afghanistan until it determines the new government is what it calls a "true partner."

White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel told reporters it would be "reckless" to take such a decision without a thorough analysis of the new government. Washington is currently debating a request for 40,000 more troops in Afghanistan.

Results from an investigation into fraud claims in the presidential poll are due in the next few days. It is expected to reveal that incumbent President Hamid Karzai did not achieve more than the 50% of votes needed to avoid a second round.

In statements to reporters in Washington, the White House chief of staff said that the United States would want first to be sure that the Afghan government was capable of governing the country. Rahm Emanuel said that the number of soldiers deployed in the country was secondary to whether or not they could work alongside an effective Afghan administration.

The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) launched an investigation into the vote following allegations of widespread electoral fraud. It will report to the Independent Election Commission (IEC), which could adjust the final tally, bringing Karzai's vote total below 50% and triggering a run-off.

Washington.- A veteran U.S. Army officer who has served in both wars of aggression against Afghanistan and Iraq warns in an analysis now circulating in Washington that the strategy urged by Gen. Stanley McChrystal is heading in the wrong direction, calling for withdrawal of the bulk of U.S. combat forces from the country over 18 months.

In a 63-page paper representing his personal views, but reflecting conversations with other officers who have served in Afghanistan, Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis argues that it is already too late for U.S. forces to defeat the insurgency.

Davis writes: "Many experts in and from Afghanistan warn that our (U.S.) presence over the past eight years has already hardened a meaningful percentage of the population into viewing the United States as an army of occupation which should be opposed and resisted." He warns that deploying the additional 40,000 troops that Gen. McChrystal has reportedly requested "is almost certain to further exacerbate" that problem.

In the paper, Davis suggests what he calls a "Go Deep" strategy as an alternative to the recommendation from McChrystal for a larger counterinsurgency effort, which he calls "Go Big." The "Go Deep" strategy proposed by Davis would establish an 18-month time frame during which the bulk of U.S. and NATO combat forces would be withdrawn from the country. It would leave U.S. Special Forces and their supporting units, and enough conventional forces in Kabul to train Afghan troops and police and provide protection for U.S. personnel.

After reading Davis's paper, Col. Patrick Lang, formerly the defense intelligence officer for the Middle East, told Inter Press Service he regards the "Go Deep" strategy as "a fair representation of the alternative to the one option in General McChrystal's assessment."

In the paper, Davis argues that the strategy recommended by McChrystal would actually require a far larger U.S. force than is now being proposed. Citing figures given by Marine Corps Col. Julian Dale Alford at a conference last month, Davis writes that training 400,000 Afghan army and police alone would take 18 brigades of U.S. troops - as many as 100,000 U.S. troops when the necessary support troops are added... not to mention tens of thousands of mercenaries, who masquerade as 'contractors.'