UPDATE 1-U.S. says Karzai legitimate Afghan leader

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WASHINGTON Nov 2 (Reuters) - The White House said on Monday Hamid Karzai was the legitimate president of Afghanistan and that President Barack Obama's decision on whether to send more U.S. troops there was still weeks away.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Obama planned to telephone Karzai shortly. Karzai emerged the winner after a run-off Afghan presidential election scheduled for Nov. 7 was called off following opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah's decision to pull out of the race.

Several administration officials have said that one of the issues being weighed in Obama's deliberations on a troop increase for Afghanistan was whether the United States had a credible partner to work with in the Kabul government.

Gibbs, at his daily news briefing, said Obama's decision still will be made "in the coming weeks" and that the White House had never said Obama wanted to wait until the election was resolved before announcing his decision.

"This decision was not dependent upon when a leader was determined. We've never said that," Gibbs said.

He also said the United States is happy that the laws of Afghanistan prevailed and that Karzai, to become a credible partner, needs to address corruption in Afghanistan.

"As assistance is given to Afghanistan, we've got to make sure that that assistance for things like economic development and growth, get down to the people that need it," he said. (Reporting by Steve Holland and Caren Bohan, editing by Jackie Frank)