WASHINGTON - The United States and its NATO countries fighting in Afghanistan have told the government of President Hamid Karzai that they believe he will be re-elected despite allegations of fraud in the August 20 election, the Washington Post reported Monday. Instead, the newspaper, citing US officials, said these nations have decided to work with President Karzai on a new counterinsurgency strategy aimed at seeking defections from the ranks of Taliban fighters, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other North Atlantic Treaty Organisation foreign ministers reached consensus that Karzai would probably continue to be president at a Friday meeting in New York with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta, a US official told the newspaper. Based on preliminary results, incumbent president Karzai has 54.6 percent of the votes declared valid, against 27.8pc for ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. The result however will not be finalised until several electoral fraud investigations are resolved. If a significant number of votes are invalidated, Karzais score could edge below 50 percent, forcing him into a run-off vote with Abdullah. The ministers on Friday agreed that Karzai would win either by maintaining his vote margin above 50 percent or in the runoff, the Post reported. The administration of President Barack Obama is in an intense debate over whether to send in more troops to Afghanistan amid waning public support for the war, and an Afghan election marred by fraud allegations. The report also comes amid news that the US commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has asked for an additional 30,000-40,000 troops for the country. The Post report said besides plans for a troop surge in Afghanistan, the options also may include the US military providing incentives to insurgents seen as not being closely linked to the Taliban and other militant groups. It was such a strategy in Iraq that helped the Sunni tribes turn against Al-Qaeda insurgents, the newspaper said.