Afghan Leadership Concedes Runoff Vote With Rival Is Likely, Envoy Says.

The government of President Hamid Karzai is preparing for the likelihood that he will have to face an election runoff with his main challenger, Afghanistan's ambassador here said Thursday, acknowledging an outcome that Western diplomats had been pushing for but that could complicate the debate over whether to send more American troops. The comments by the ambassador in Washington, Said Tayeb Jawad, were the first in which Mr. Karzai's government conceded that a runoff was likely, after weeks of investigation into stark cases of election fraud. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]