Obama: Karzai, Opponents Have Afghan People’s Interests At Heart

President Barack Obama
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President Obama today said he is “pleased with the steps that have been taken” in the disputed Afghanistan election, and said both candidates have expressed a willingness to abide by constitutional law.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai today accepted a runoff election, scheduled for Nov. 7, against his main opponent Abdullah Abdullah. UN fraud investigators have thrown out a third of Karzai’s votes, citing apparent fraud.

Obama, speaking to reporters today after meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, said “President Karzai as well as the other candidates, I think, have shown that they have the interests of the Afghan people at heart.”

He also thanked Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry, Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) and the U.S. military for their work in getting the Afghanistan elections sorted out.

“This has been a difficult election,” Obama said, because of “violent forces opposed to democracy.” But, he said, “we’ve seen elections take place” and there is a “path forward.”

Video after the jump.

After speaking about the Afghanistan elections, Obama turned to Iraq. Maliki is in Washington, D.C., for the Iraq Investment and Business Conference, and Obama said it marks a “transition in our bilateral relationship.” Now, he said, the two could discuss “issues beyond security,” such as the economy, business and commerce.

“There is enormous opportunity for our countries to do business with each other,” Obama said. Iraq has “my administration’s full support for all the steps that can be taken so that Iraq can not only be a secure place and a democratic country, but also a place where people can do business, people can find work, families can make a living, and children are well educated.”

But the two did also speak about security issues, namely Iraq’s own elections, scheduled for January pending the revision of the country’s election law, which Iraqi lawmakers have been debating.

Obama reiterated that combat troops will withdraw by August 2010, and all U.S. troops will be out of Iraq by 2011.

Maliki, through a translator, said it’s important for Iraq to get out of bankruptcy and for the international community to end sanctions on the country.

“We don’t have weapons of mass destruction anymore,” he said.

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