DHAKA: Afghanistan’s election crisis deepened Thursday when presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah said he would reject the result because his claims of massive fraud have failed to stop the ongoing vote count.

Abdullah’s complaints about alleged fraud in the run-off election have thrown the country’s first democratic transfer of power into doubt ahead of preliminary results due out on July 2.

A smooth election was seen as a key benchmark of Afghan progress by the US-led coalition that has fought against insurgents and donated billions of dollars in aid since 2001 when the Taliban regime was ousted.

But the dispute could trigger instability as US-led foreign combat troops withdraw by the end of the year, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 2133 HRS, JUNE 19, 2014