Take a look at this time table of events regarding the Karzai/Kerry negotiations.

[wisteria]

"As the afternoon drags on, Kerry takes a walk with Karzai on the presidential compound for another more one-on-one talk. The two men visit a mosque on the presidential compound and then return to the palace. Karzai agrees, once again, to accept the updated election results and the run-off election.

At 4:50 pm, they walk out before the camera to announce the agreement -- nearly 4 hours late"

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theworldnewser/2009/10/john-kerry-the-karzai-deal.html

[TayTay]

1. 4 hours? That seals it

I think I am definitely going to see Hamid Karzai throwing out a first pitch at Fenway next year. I can't shake that feeling.

[wisteria]

2. LOL, you may well be correct about this. n/t

[karynnj]

3. lol

If so, we will know that no one other than Kerry could have sealed the deal - as I doubt anyone else would have thought of it.

Seriously, it is fascinating that they took a walk and went to a mosque.

[beachmom]

4. Oh, man. That means when we were reading that initial AP

report that said Karzai was going to back the runoff election, things had already fallen apart! Before Kerry put it back together again during those mysterious 4 hours. Oh, I hope the deal holds.

[YvonneCa]

5. So do I. n/t

[beachmom]

6. And another article from the AP:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jjh406co5c9vR_88I54jiBSMxCTAD9BF5BB00

White House praises Kerry role in Afghanistan

By STEVEN R. HURST (AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — The White House had high praise Tuesday for the American team in Kabul — including Democratic Sen. John Kerry — that played a major role in persuading President Hamid Karzai to agree to a runoff election.

...

In a telephone interview with The Associated Press, Kerry described the evolution in Karzai's thinking.

"President Karzai really deeply believes he had won the election and ... that the international community was kind of conspiring to push for a different outcome," Kerry said by telephone from Dubai. "He had people within his government, people within the election commission who felt they were being insulted about putting together a faulty election process."

"There were a lot of very deep feelings about Afghanistan's right to run its election, its competency in running it and so forth," the Massachusetts Democrat said.

Senior White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to offer details of the negotiations, said Kerry stayed in Eikenberry's residence in Kabul and conducted his work from the U.S. Embassy, where he stayed in close telephone contact with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Security Adviser James Jones and special Afghan envoy Richard Holbrooke.

From that base, the officials said, Kerry met frequently with U.N. mission chief Kai Eide and the ambassadors of France and Britain. Kerry's visit coincided with one by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who worked with the U.S. senator.

The officials quoted Kerry as saying the talks in Kabul were not about "the formation of a coalition government, though we want to see people come together" to strengthen Afghanistan "as it moves forward to tackle daunting challenges."

More at the link.

[beachmom]

7. I think I have died and gone to Google Heaven :). Another one from the WSJ:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125608399697997801.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_MIDDLTopStories

According to one Western diplomat, the Afghan president felt more comfortable dealing with Sen. Kerry than with Mr. Eikenberry or the administration's special representative to the region, Richard Holbrooke. Mr. Holbrooke angered Mr. Karzai when he suggested a runoff might be needed shortly after the Aug. 20 election.

"He and I are friends," Sen. Kerry said of Mr. Karzai. "It was really trying to lay out the real interests that were at stake. ... President Karzai was very attentive and thinks he won the election."

...

U.S. and Western officials said the Obama administration latched on to Sen. Kerry as a key broker. In June, he played a similar role in the Obama administration's efforts to build bridges to the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Syrian and U.S. officials.

Sen. Kerry was first drawn into the vote fraud crisis Friday when, at a dinner with U.S. troops from Massachusetts, Mr. Eikenberry pulled him aside and told him of fears Mr. Karzai would denounce findings by U.N.-led election investigators of widespread fraud.

That night, Sen. Kerry made his first unscheduled trip to the presidential palace, where the two men, sometimes accompanied by Mr. Eikenberry and sometimes alone, hashed out Mr. Karzai's concerns. "We had lot of hours together and talked about a lot of things, including the American experience in elections, and going back to 1864, Al Gore in 2000," Sen. Kerry said. "I think it helped to put it into a certain framework."

I think they talked about 2004. Not just 1864 and 2000. But he wasn't going to say that.

[karynnj]

8. An AP article with no snark that contains praise for Kerry

"President Karzai really deeply believes he had won the election and ... that the international community was kind of conspiring to push for a different outcome," Kerry said by telephone from Dubai. "He had people within his government, people within the election commission who felt they were being insulted about putting together a faulty election process."

"There were a lot of very deep feelings about Afghanistan's right to run its election, its competency in running it and so forth," the Massachusetts Democrat said.

Senior White House officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to offer details of the negotiations, said Kerry stayed in Eikenberry's residence in Kabul and conducted his work from the U.S. Embassy, where he stayed in close telephone contact with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, National Security Adviser James Jones and special Afghan envoy Richard Holbrooke.

From that base, the officials said, Kerry met frequently with U.N. mission chief Kai Eide and the ambassadors of France and Britain. Kerry's visit coincided with one by French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, who worked with the U.S. senator.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jjh406co5c9vR_88I54jiBSMxCTAD9BF5BB00

[beachmom]

9. TPM has that article up under its "Must Read" section.

It is fascinating.

[wisteria]

10. Nice. n/t

[wisteria]

11. delete.