Abdullah exit won't affect U.S. strategy: officials

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Senior U.S. officials said on Sunday that Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah's decision to quit an election run-off would not complicate President Barack Obama's deliberations on the war strategy.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made clear the Obama administration would work with Afghan President Hamid Karzai should he remain the leader of the next government, as seems all but certain.

"It is now a matter for the Afghan authorities to decide on a way ahead that brings this electoral process to a conclusion in line with the Afghan constitution," Clinton said in a statement e-mailed to reporters while she was traveling in Morocco.

"We will support the next president and the people of Afghanistan, who seek and deserve a better future."

As Obama weighs whether to approve a request from his top commander in Afghanistan for a 40,000 increase in U.S. troops, Abdullah's exit from the November 7 vote threatened to raise doubts about the legitimacy of Karzai's government.

The Afghanistan war has become unpopular with the American public as violence there has reached its worst levels since the Taliban was ousted by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001.

A suicide attack in Kabul last week that killed five United Nations staff underlined the deterioration in security.

Many of Obama's Democratic allies in Congress are wary of a troop increase. Some have questioned whether the United States has a credible partner to work with in the Afghan government.

Abdullah had accused Karzai of not meeting his demand for a fair vote.

Still unclear is whether the November 7 run-off would go ahead with Karzai as the only candidate, given the expense that would be involved in the vote and potential security risks.

Afghan election officials said it would and U.S. officials said it was up to them. "It is important that the new government in Kabul be seen as legitimate. There are different paths to get there. The ultimate choice is up to the Afghans," said one senior U.S. official.

DEALING WITH CORRUPTION

"We're going to deal with the government that is there and obviously there are issues we need to discuss, such as reducing the high level of corruption there," senior Obama adviser David Axelrod told the CBS program "Face the Nation."

Axelrod said that Abdullah "made a political decision" to quit the run-off and it was likely he would have been defeated.

"We don't think that it's going to add a complication to the strategy," Valerie Jarrett, another White House aide, told ABC's "This Week."

In her statement, Clinton urged Abdullah to "stay engaged" and work for peace in Afghanistan.

While Obama faces growing Democratic opposition to the war, Republicans accuse him of dragging out the deliberations over whether to increase U.S. troops.

"I'm concerned about this delay. I would hope that the president would make a decision and make it soon," House of Representatives Republican Leader John Boehner told CNN.

But Boehner agreed with Jarrett and Axelrod that Abdullah's departure should not have a major effect on the U.S. strategy.

"Dr. Abdullah's exit from this race, I think, really says more about the fact that he knew he wasn't going to win," Boehner said.

Axelrod reiterated that the president would make a decision "within weeks."

A U.S. official said on Saturday that Obama was unlikely to make a decision on his Afghanistan strategy before he leaves for a 10-day trip to Asia on November 11.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, stressed that while a decision was unlikely before then, it had not been ruled out.

General Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has recommended deployment of an additional 40,000 troops next year.

Another scenario under consideration could involve adding 10,000 to 15,000 troops, a large portion of whom would be focused on increasing the training of Afghan forces. But U.S. officials have said a number of options are under review.

There are about 67,000 U.S. troops and 42,000 allied forces in Afghanistan.

(Additional reporting by Adam Entous, Sue Pleming, Donna Smith and John O'Callaghan in Washington and Andrew Quinn in Morocco, Editing by Cynthia Osterman and Chris Wilson)