Afghan leader takes control of vote-fraud panel

February 24, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

KABUL (AP) — Afghanistan’s president has taken control of a formerly independent body that monitors election fraud, raising concern Tuesday that he’s reneging on promises to clean up corruption and cronyism — a pillar of the Obama administration’s plan to erode support for the Taliban.

In another effort to win the trust of Afghans as a mass offensive continues against the Taliban in the south, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan went on national television to apologize for an airstrike that killed civilians.

President Hamid Karzai signed a decree last week giving him the power to appoint all members of the Electoral Complaints Commission, a group previously dominated by U.N. appointees that uncovered massive fraud on behalf of Karzai in last year’s presidential election.

The decree, which was made public Monday, suggests that Karzai wants to tighten control of the electoral process ahead of parliamentary balloting in September. The election was due in May but was postponed because foreign donors would not help pay for it without reforms.