Hamid Karzai

KABUL, Afghanistan - - Electoral officials Monday canceled Saturday's planned Afghan presidential runoff and declared incumbent Hamid Karzai the victor. The decision, announced by the government-appointed Independent Electoral Commission, ended more than two months of uncertainty stemming from an election that was marred by fraud. The U.S. and the United Nations quickly lined up in support of Karzai, who is to serve another five-year term. "We congratulate President Karzai on his victory in this historic election and look forward to working with him," the U.S. Embassy said in statement.

Endemic corruption in Afghanistan amounts to a virtual tax on poverty-stricken Afghans, robbing them of the equivalent of a quarter of the war-racked nation's annual gross domestic product, a new U.N. report states. The report, released Tuesday by the United Nations' Office on Drugs and Crime, found that nearly 60 percent of Afghans regarded corruption as their biggest worry, outpacing concerns about the insurgency or joblessness. As President Hamid Karzai's government prepares for an international aid conference in London on Jan. 28, it likely will face tough questions about measures under way to battle corruption.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai's accusation that western interests were responsible for the massive voter fraud that occurred in the last presidential election should give us cause to re-evaluate our relationship with that country. If Mr. Karzai's claim is true, then what legitimate role is the U.S. playing there? If it is false, then it's obvious we do not have a reliable partner for what we are doing there. So far no U.S. officials have addressed the real bogeyman in Afghanistan, the drug trade that feeds the Karzai government's corruption.

KABUL, Afghanistan - President Hamid Karzai removed Mohammad Arif Sarwari, head of the National Security Directorate, the Afghan intelligence service, yesterday in a move that many took as a sign of Karzai's growing confidence. The dismissal, announced by the official Bakhtar news agency, came amid a flurry of new appointments in the past week, including four new provincial governors and many new regional police chiefs. The appointments, coming soon after the approval of a new constitution, are part of a drive to improve efficiency and governance, aides to the president said, as well as an indication of Karzai's increasing influence.

It's been one week since the U.S. House of Representatives nearly voted to end the war in Afghanistan. In that time, the U.S. has apologized for a NATO air strike that killed 14 women and children , and Afghan president Hamid Karzai has issued a "last warning" for the U.S. to stop bombing houses.  "If after the Afghan government said the aerial bombing of Afghan houses is banned and if it continues, then their presence will change from...

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's last king, Mohammed Zahir Shah, died yesterday, plunging his battered country into mourning and inspiring a wave of wistful nostalgia for better days. He was 92. Zahir Shah, an ineffectual yet beloved monarch, spent nearly three decades in genteel exile after being ousted in a palace coup in 1973. He returned to Afghanistan in 2002 after the fall of the Taliban, and although he played no significant political role, he served for many as an emblem of the country's yet-unrealized hopes for rebuilding.

KABUL, Afghanistan - Twenty-one people, including two senior Defense Ministry commanders, were killed in heavy factional fighting overnight in the western province of Herat, in another upset for Afghanistan as it prepares for elections, Afghan officials said yesterday. In what appeared to be coordinated attacks, forces from three neighboring provinces moved on districts in Herat Province, the fief of the powerful warlord Ismail Khan. Fighting involving artillery and tanks was continuing south of the city of Herat, around Shindand yesterday afternoon, said Mohammadullah Afzali, the Foreign Ministry representative in Herat.

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghanistan's foreign minister, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, lost a no-confidence vote in parliament yesterday after he was unable to stop the expulsion of tens of thousands of Afghan refugees and illegal workers from Iran in the past three weeks. Spanta was blamed for failing to find a diplomatic solution with Iran that would have prevented the expulsions. He won only 73 votes, while 141 legislators voted against him. Iran has expelled thousands of Afghans before. But the number it expelled this time, more than 50,000, was high for such a short period.

The more I read about Afghanistan, the more concerned I become about the contending factions faced by President Hamid Karzai's government and the American forces trying to support it. We have spent $471 million to complete the Afghanistan Dam project, begun in the early 1950s to provide electricity, and the $6 billion we have spent over the past decade to combat the opium trade has helped finance the insurgency and fueled government corruption....

Some day, we expect to see restaurants in Baltimore representing each of the 193 United Nations members. Till then, but here's a sampling of more dining destinations to explore. Afghan: The Helmand is so authentic, it's owned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother, Qayum Karzai. 806 N. Charles St., Mount Vernon. helmand.com Australian: Corner BYOB Cafe isn't ethnic. But it does sometimes offer kangaroo meat. That counts, right? 850 W. 36th St., Hampden. cornerbyob.com Eastern European: Ze Mean Bean Cafe serves traditional dishes and light fare.