Karzai Declared Winner as Afghan Runoff Is Canceled

Hamid Karzai was declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential election Monday after a runoff scheduled for next weekend was canceled, the Associated Press reports. The ruling from the Afghan election commission follows a decision Sunday by Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai's challenger, to withdraw from the race. Abdullah said he was dropping out because the vote would not be free or fair. Fraud had marred earlier voting, prompting a recount and the scheduling of the runoff in the war-torn country.

The Independent Electoral Commission came to its decision for several reasons, including security and money, commission President Azizullah Lodin said Monday. The Taliban had threatened violence against anyone who took part in the election, and last week insurgents raided a guest house in Kabul, killing five U.N. election workers and three Afghans.

"Now the key issue is how the Afghan people will react to this, what kind of government will President Karzai put together, and how the international community will react," former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad told CNN.