Mullen: Karzai's legitimacy is 'at best, in question'

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's legitimacy is "at best, in question right now and, at worst, doesn't exist," Admiral Mike Mullen told the Associated Press on Wednesday.

Consequently, Pentagon and White House officials remain "extremely concerned"  about rampant corruption in Karzai's government, and they urged the Afghan president to root out malfeasance immediately in order to restore the public's faith in his leadership.

"He's got to take concrete steps to eliminate corruption," Mullen said at a conference, as reported by AP. "That means that you have to rid yourself of those who are corrupt, you have to actually arrest and prosecute them. You have to show those visible signs."

"If we don't get a level of legitimacy and governance, then all the troops in the world aren't going to make any difference," Mullen added.

The admiral's remarks on Wednesday are interesting, considering Karzai's primary opponent in Afghanistan's tumultuous presidential election -- Abdullah Adbdullah -- backed out of a runoff precisely because of concerns about political meddling.

Abdullah insisted that state election officials were complicit in the fraud that prompted a runoff in the first place, and he announced on Sunday he was exiting the December contest out of fear those officials could again taint the election's outcome.

The United States, however, maintained throughout the ordeal that it was ultimately up to Afghans how to handle their political affairs. Still, White House officials urged Karzai and his followers to pursue a democratic resolution to the standoff.

"Our position on this is clear. We believe that there was an election that was carried out according to Afghan law. We recognize Hamid Karzai as the legitimately elected president of Afghanistan," Ian Kelly, a State Department spokesman, said during a press briefing Thursday.

"We respect Dr. Abdullah very much," he added. "We hope that he stays engaged in the political process and plays a part in the dialogue and the political life of his country. But our position is that Hamid Karzai is the legitimately elected president of Afghanistan."