November 2, 2009 Obama to Karzai: Time to write new chapter Play video

(NECN: Washington, D.C.) - President Barack Obama said on Monday that he congratulated Afghan president Hamid Karzai on winning the recent elections, which were widely believed to be fraudulent.

Challenger Abdullah Abdullah dropped out of the planned runoff election, citing the belief that those, too, would prove fraudulent.

"I spoke with President Karzai and I congratulated him on his election for a second term as president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan," President Obama said. "I'm pleased to say that the final outcome was determined in accordance with Afghan law, which I think is very important not only for the international community that has so much invested in Afghan success, but most important is important for the Afghan people that the results were in accordance with an followed the rules laid down by the Afghan constitution.

"I did emphasize to President Karzai that the American people and the international community as a whole want to continue to partner with him and his government in achieving prosperity and security in Afghanistan, but I emphasized that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter based on improved governance, a much more serious effort to eradicate corruption, joint efforts to accelerate the training of Afghan security forces so that the Afghan people can provide for their own security."

President Obama is weighing a decision regarding the potential deployment of more troops to