Gibbs says Afghan election results won’t change policy or alter goals of defeating al-Qaida

Gibbs: Afghan election outcome won’t change policy

WASHINGTON — The chief White House spokesman says the spotty turnout in Afghanistan’s presidential elections would not alter U.S. policy in the country, where American forces have been battling the militant Taliban for nearly eight years.

Robert Gibbs said Thursday that “lots of people” had gone to the polls despite Taliban “threats of violence and terror.” But he said reports of a light turnout would not alter “our policy going forward in our aggressive goals…to disrupt and ultimately defeat al-Qaida and its terrorist allies.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is seeking a second term, but by law must gain more than 50 percent of the vote in a very crowded field of candidates to avoid a run-off.