By Ian Pannell
BBC News, Kabul
The BBC has learned that the US special envoy to Afghanistan has had what has been described as “an explosive meeting” with President Hamid Karzai over the country’s election.
Sources have revealed that Richard Holbrooke raised concerns about ballot-stuffing and fraud and said that a second-round run off could make the process more credible.
The final results in the election won’t be known until next month.
A number of senior sources have confirmed the details of a meeting between Richard Holbrooke and President Karzai the day after the election.
It was described as “explosive” and “a dramatic bust-up”.
Richard Holbrooke is said to have twice raised the idea of a second round run-off because of concerns about the voting process.
He is believed to have complained about the use of fraud and ballot-stuffing by some members of the president’s campaign team as well as other candidates.
The sources say that President Karzai reacted very angrily and that the meeting ended shortly afterwards.
A spokeswoman for the US Embassy in Kabul denied there had been any shouting or that Richard Holbrooke had stormed out.
She refused to discuss the details of the meeting. A spokesman for the presidential palace denied the account of the conversation.
There have been many doubts raised about the Afghan presidential election; about the turnout and irregularities.
But this is the first time that a leading Western official has apparently expressed it quite so openly.
It will raise more questions about the credibility of the whole process and could well make the plan to establish a meaningful government in a stable country all the harder to achieve.