Rob Corbidge: Karzai seems to be feeling the strain as pressure grows

PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai is a man under pressure – yet he knows his western backers currently have few options but to stand by him.

In essence, the August elections failed to bring the result that the US and Britain would have preferred – Karzai leaving power for a less dubious figure such as former foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah, and with that removing the rings of corruption and cronyism surrounding him.

However, whatever doubts diplomats may express privately about the way those elections were conducted, Karzai remains the man in Kabul.

With his latest allegations about western powers rigging those self-same elections, and comments to his own MPs about joining the Taleban, it is not clear whether Karzai is playing a card likely to appeal to Afghans in distancing himself from what many regard as occupying powers – or whether he is simply a man flailing.

The pressure on Kabul from Washington is now immense.

From sidelining the conflict under the Bush presidency – although George Bush himself remained in closer contact with Karzai than the current president – the White House under Obama wants to see results from the Afghan leader. The 30,000 extra US troops being deployed to Afghanistan are not a blank cheque, to be drawn in blood and money.

In Britain, the Afghan conflict lurks at the edge of the election campaign, both of the main parties restricting themselves to accusations about defence spending and equipment. There are few votes in the war.

However, the British public will feel rightfully indignant that the lives of our young men and women in the military are being lost to maintain the grip on power of a figure who is increasingly making ambiguous statements about their very presence.

The ultimate sanction for the US and Britain is to threaten to withdraw their forces – the "nuclear option", as diplomats call it – but that is a threat that can credibly be made only once.

An actual withdrawal would bring wider international and domestic consequences for whatever British government is in power, for Barack Obama – and for the credibility of Nato as a whole.