Abdullah holds victory rally

After speaking with US President Barack Obama and John Kerry Tuesday, Abdullah Abdullah said the secretary of state would visit Kabul Friday.

The former foreign minister accuses Afghan President Hamid Karzai, termed out after 12 years, of helping rig a June 14 runoff vote in favor of former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, describing it as a "coup" against the people. Abdullah has declared himself the winner instead and said he would go it alone if necessary.

"The people of Afghanistan are putting pressure on me to announce their elected government," Abdullah said on Tuesday. "I cannot ignore your calls," he told supporters in the Loya Jirga grand hall in Kabul, "but please give me a few days."

Those comments raised concern with Kerry.

"I have noted reports of protests in Afghanistan and of suggestions of a 'parallel government' with the gravest concern," Kerry said in a statement. "Any action to take power by extralegal means will cost Afghanistan the financial and security support of the United States and the international community."

On Monday, Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission announced that former World Bank economist Ghani appeared to have won the runoff, securing 56 percent of the vote in preliminary results. Abdullah was reported to have garnered just under 44 percent of the vote. Neither candidate met the 50 percent threshold in the first round in April.

'A fraudulent result'

The commission has already acknowledged that vote rigging had occurred, with ballots from about 7,000 of the nearly 23,000 polling stations to be audited. Afghan officials released the preliminary count despite an earlier warning from one-time foreign minister Abdullah that he would not accept any results until all fraudulent ballots have first been invalidated.

"We are proud, we respect the votes of the people, we were the winner," Abdullah told thousands of supporters on Tuesday. "We will not accept a fraudulent result - not today, not tomorrow, never."

The hasty announcement by the commission also brought a swift and strongly worded statement in reply from the US State Depatment, which cautioned that the results were "not final or authoritative." The agency urged electoral authorities to "implement a thorough audit whether or not the two campaigns agree."

Afghanistan relies heavily on foreign donors to fund its infrastructure and security services. The United States provides the bulk of the international aid to the country.

The commission will release final results on July 22, and the new president will take office on August 2.

mkg/rc (Reuters, AFP, dpa, AP)