Afghan President Hamid Karzai's surprise victory in his bid for re-election raises questions about election fraud - but it also eliminates one more reason for U.S. President Barack Obama to delay a decision on military strategy in Afghanistan.

About a million ballots cast in Afghanistan in August were thrown out this fall, because of allegations of vote fraud. That was supposed to have resulted in a runoff election between Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah. But on Saturday, Abdullah dropped out of the race, saying he had no faith the election would be decided honestly.

Several weeks ago, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, advised Obama that he needs 80,000 more troops to defeat the Taliban. Obama has been delaying a decision. At one point he said he wanted to wait until the Afghan presidential election was finalized.

That no longer is a factor. Now, the White House says Obama will make a decision in a "matter of weeks."

We can understand Obama's concern about getting it right in Afghanistan. But there has been ample time to study the problem since McChrystal made his request. The president needs to make a decision on it, one way or the other, soon.