Election official resigns over UN 'interference'

KABUL - Efforts to resolve Afghanistan's presidential election suffered setbacks yesterday when one of two Afghans on the commission investigating electoral fraud resigned over "foreign interference".

Allegations of widespread fraud in the August ballot threaten to scuttle the international strategy to combat the burgeoning Taleban insurgency at a time when United States and Western Europe public support for the war is waning.

The US and its international partners are anxious for a United Nations-backed commission to wrap up its investigation into fraud charges and determine whether President Hamid Karzai won or must face second-place finisher Abdullah Abdullah in a runoff.

One of the two Afghans on the Electoral Complaints Commission, Maulavi Mustafa Barakzai, said he was resigning because the three foreigners on the panel - one American, one Canadian and one Dutch - were "making all decisions on their own".

UN spokesman Aleem Siddique called the resignation "regrettable" but said the UN continued to trust that the group would produce a fair outcome.

"We have full confidence in the ECC as the important work continues," Siddique said."

Last month, the top-ranking American in the UN mission in Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith, was fired after he accused his boss, Norwegian diplomat Kai Eide, of downplaying fraud in the ballot.

Meanwhile, the head of the international force which has lost the most lives in Afghanistan has said that reinforcements are necessary to provide security and achieve a long-term settlement.

Lieutenant General Andrew Leslie's Canadian troops have proportionately suffered more fatalities that any other Nato contingent.

The Canadian force is due to pull out in 2011. However, Leslie said that after spending £3 billion ($6.4 billion) on new equipment, and an upsurge in recruiting, his force would be ready to continue if ordered to.

The 3000 Canadian troops, based in the Taleban heartland of Kandahar, have lost 137 personnel. British losses stand at 221 out of a force of 9100.

- INDEPENDENT, AP