Afghan President Hamid Karzai was declared the winner of the presidential election by default Nov. 2 and handed a second five-year term when his only challenger dropped out of the race Nov. 1, scrapping a Nov. 7 runoff.

Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah announces his decision not to participate in a runoff against President Hamid Karzai in Kabul on Nov. 1. AP PHOTO

The Obama administration said it was prepared to work with the man it has previously criticized to combat corruption and confront the Taliban insurgency.

U.S. President Barack Obama has been waiting for a new government in Kabul to announce whether he will send tens of thousands of new troops to Afghanistan. The war has intensified and October was the deadliest month of the eight-year war for U.S. forces.

Obama welcomed Karzai's election with as much admonishment as praise, telling him that he expects a more serious effort to end corruption in his government.

Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah announced his decision to quit six days before the runoff election, after last-minute talks led by the United States and United Nations failed to produce a power-sharing agreement acceptable to Karzai, according to a Western diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity.

In an emotional speech, Abdullah told supporters that he could not accept a runoff led by the same Karzai-appointed election commission that managed the fraud-marred vote in August. The runoff was set for Nov. 7 after U.N.-backed auditors annulled nearly a-third of Karzai's votes as fakes.

"I will not participate in the Nov. 7 election," Abdullah said, because a "transparent election is not possible."