The aftermath of what appears to be widespread election fraud in Afghanistan may cost the imperilled nation its American backing, the United States is warning. As Afghanistan awaits the threatened announcement of a government by the ostensible losing presidential candidate - who may actually be the winner - the US secretary of state warned that taking power "illegally" would "cost Afghanistan the financial and security support of the United States and the international community."

The Taliban have urged the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, to turn a delay in signing a long-term security deal with the United States into outright rejection, in an unusually polite statement directed at a leader the insurgents have repeatedly denounced as a US puppet