Two months after Afghanistan's presidential elections, fraud has reduced Hamid Karzai's presidential votes by a third - he is now forced to face Abdullah Abdullah, his main rival, in a runoff vote.

This week a UN-backed investigation said it found "clear and convincing" evidence of widespread fraud in the election in August. 

The electoral complaints commission (ECC), said more than one million, of the five million votes cast, were invalid.
 
That number includes one third of ballots cast for Hamid Karzai - it has cut Karzai's share to less than the 50 per cent he needed to win outright.

What are the chances of president Karzai remaining in power and what could it mean for the country? And how will this affect the imminent deployment of more foreign troops to the country?

Inside Story presenter Maryam Nemazee is joined by guests Waheed Omer, a spokesperson for Hamid Karzai, Wali Masood, the former Afghan ambassador to the UK and a senior adviser to Abdullah Abdullah, and Haroun Mir, the co-founder and director of the Afghanistan centre for research and policy studies.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Tuesday, October 20, 2009.