I do not at this point know absolutely if it is true, but it may well be. If it is true, it is disgusting and contrary to our values and to our laws. I know that my military colleagues are taking it extremely seriously and there will be a very full and complete investigation.

I don't think that any election is perfect, ... historic milestone in Afghan history.

If you're going to go down this path of encouraging democracy, then to a very large extent you just suck it up.

The international community is going to have to stay involved for a long time,

It's very clear the international community is still solidly here and the next piece we have to do is to try to, in a post-Bonn conference, define a little more sharply what the steps need to be,

This is too critical to just say we want victory but we want it on the cheap.

These expectations of the people will have to be met,

These expectations of the people will have to be met. What the election does is give the Afghan people a new channel to voice their opinions and demands.

It would be useful to lay down an internationally agreed set of goals, benchmarks.

Ultimately, you want people to believe in the system. The whole thing makes no sense if people don't believe that their vote counts.