John Kerry: Man of the Hour in Afghanistan

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has just released a statement on the Announcement of First Round Results of that contentious Afghan presidential elections:

The United States welcomes today’s announcement of certified results in the first round of the Afghan Presidential elections. We congratulate all candidates in this historic race, and applaud the vigorous campaigns run by President Karzai and Dr. Abdullah, garnering support across the country and ethnic lines. As neither of the top two candidates received more than fifty percent of the vote, the Constitution calls for the holding of a run-off. We welcome President Karzai’s statesmanlike acceptance of this result and his agreement to a second round of voting.The United States commends the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) for fulfilling their mandates, working in coordination with one another to ensure that the electoral and adjudication processes were carried out under Afghanistan’s Electoral Law and according to international standards.Read the whole thing and view the photos here.

Looks like our man of the hour in Afghanistan is no other than Senator John Kerry of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Photos below from the US Embassy Kabul's Facebook page.

That's Amb Eikenberry, the ECC official, Senator Kerry,UNAMA's Kai Eide and President Hamid Karzai

Senator Kerry with Abdullah Abdullah and Ambassador Eikenberry

Senator Kerry with President Karzai

Makes one wonder where in the world is the Special AfPak Rep, Richard Holbrooke?