Afghan president says opponents welcome in government

President Hamid Karzai listens as the media asks a question U.S. Senator John Kerry (not pictured) during a joint news conference announcing that there will be a run-off election on November 7th at the presidential palace October 20, 2009 in Kabul, Afghanistan. Under serious international pressure, President Karzai officially stated that he fell short of a decisive victory with less than 50 percent of the vote in Afghanistan's disputed presidential election. (Paula Bronstein, Getty Images)

KABUL (AP) — Afghanistan's president is welcoming his re-election by default. And he's reaching out to opponents.

Hamid Karzai is promising to create a government of national participation and banish corruption that has undermined his administration.

Karzai spoke a day after he was declared victor of an election so marred by fraud that his opponent dropped out of a planned runoff because he said it could not be free or fair.

Karzai says he wants people from every part of the country in his government, including Taliban who are ready to cooperate with the administration and political opponents. But he never mentioned his former challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, by name.

The Taliban claimed their own victory. They say the canceled runoff showed their efforts to derail the vote by threats and attacks were successful.

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