Gates: Afghan runoff won’t solve corruption issues

(AP) TOKYO - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday a runoff election in Afghanistan won’t solve the problem of corruption in that nation’s government.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai bowed to U.S. pressure on Tuesday and accepted findings of election fraud that invalidated nearly a third of the votes cast for him in August. A runoff election was set for Nov. 7 between Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the former Afghan foreign minister who came in second in balloting.

President Barack Obama welcomed Karzai’s decision, saying it offers new hope for a credible government in Kabul as the U.S. and NATO fight Taliban insurgents and al-Qaida. Gates, however, sounded more pessimistic about the development when he took questions from reporters at a Tokyo news conference.

"Getting that behind us and then moving forward is very important, and I think having some clarity in that makes a lot of sense," Gates said.

"But I think we need to be realistic that the issues of corruption and governance that we are trying to work with the Afghan government on are not going to be solved simply on the outcome of the presidential election. This is going to be a work in progress," he said.

It was not clear from Gates’ remarks whether he believes that Obama should wait until after the election to outline those battle plans. When he spoke with reporters aboard his plan en route to Tokyo, the Pentagon chief said the Obama administration needs to decide on a strategy and not "sit on our hands" waiting for election results and a government to emerge in Kabul.

In Tokyo on Wednesday, Gates denied that a rift existed between the military and White House over the time it’s taking to develop a strategy for Afghanistan.

Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa, who appeared with Gates, said Japan would not provide combat support to the NATO-led mission in Afghanistan because of poor public support for the war.

Kitazawa said Japan is considering other unspecified contributions to the war now that it has decided to cancel its naval refueling mission for allies headed to Afghanistan.