AFGHANISTAN: The flashing smile, the patrician wave of the hand for the cameras as he stepped into his bullet-proof car belonged to a man who had just won Afghanistan's presidential election.
But not for himself. The US ambassador, Mr Zalmay Khalilzad, nicknamed "the Viceroy" and familiarly known as Zal, had just helped to smooth the path to almost certain victory for Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai after meeting his chief rival.
The historic election on Saturday was nearly derailed when Mr Karzai's 15 opponents threatened a boycott over suspicion of irregularities, but soon most of his main challengers had fallen into line and promised to respect the result - thanks to a little word in their ear from the US envoy.
"They came to him asking for advice on ways to save face," said one western official, describing the urgent consultations Mr Khalilzad held with Mr Yunus Qanuni, the main candidate from the ethnic Tajik minority. Mr Qanuni later withdrew his boycott, citing national interests.
A day earlier, a visit from Mr Khalilzad was followed by a decision by another key opponent, Mohammad Mohaqiq from the Shia Muslim Hazara minority, to take back his threat to refuse to recognise the election.
Yesterday a presidential contender, Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ethnic Uzbek commander from the north, was to meet the Afghanistan-born Mr Khalilzad, who is the face of President George W. Bush in Kabul.
Most expect Mr Karzai to win Saturday's election, although three weeks of counting only begin today. Ballot boxes from across the country poured into collection centres yesterday.
It is no secret that Washington wants to see Mr Karzai endorsed as president. Mr Khalilzad was under pressure to move quickly because President Bush, on his own campaign trail, was hailing last weekend's election as his foreign policy triumph and could not risk allegations of fraud jeopardising the success story.
Mr Khalilzad, who has a doctorate from the University of Chicago and is a former professor at Columbia University and a long-time Republican, was appointed special envoy to Afghanistan after US forces toppled the hardline Taliban regime in late 2001.
Some say Mr Khalilzad has engaged in political horse-trading on Mr Karzai's behalf, possibly carrying offers of ministerial posts or governorships.
"He's put pressure on them, and they won't change their position free of charge," said one candidate, who believed the deals could backfire on Mr Karzai.
Mr Khalilzad and Mr Karzai go back a long time. They studied together at the American University of Beirut in the 1970s.
It was Mr Khalilzad, as a foreign policy adviser to the National Security Council, who lobbied Washington to pick Mr Karzai as head of a transitional government after the Taliban were overthrown.
Mr Khalilzad says he has always been ready to act as a go-between, carrying messages between rival Afghan politicians, but denies direct interference in Afghanistan's domestic affairs.
Afghans fear that US impatience for a Karzai win may have led to a series of deals that could result in warlords and drug-runners retaining a say in government. But few doubt that a Karzai win is what Mr Bush wants to hold up as a triumph of democracy before the presidential election.