Karzai to accep runoff ...

In the NYTimes, here

"... Mr. Karzai’s apparent capitulation came after an all-out push by Obama administration officials and their European allies. But even if Mr. Karzai ends his strong resistance to a runoff, that will not resolve the country’s political crisis, officials say. It would be difficult to hold a new election quickly, as the Afghan winter approaches, and delaying the selection of a new government until the spring could allow the Taliban to make further gains across the country.

As a result, some Obama administration officials, who say a pending decision on whether to increase troop levels in the country depends partly on resolving the election outcome, now argue that they should push Mr. Karzai and Mr. Abdullah to form a coalition government to avoid a runoff altogether.

During a hastily arranged two-hour meeting with Senator John Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, a key foreign policy ally of President Obama, and the United States ambassador, Lt. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry, at the presidential palace in Kabul on Monday, Mr. Karzai, after initially hesitating, agreed to accept the findings, the officials said...."