Efforts to resolve Afghanistan's fraud-marred presidential election suffered new setbacks Oct. 12 when one of two Afghans on the commission looking into alleged cheating resigned over "foreign interference," and U.N. officials acknowledged that errors and miscommunication had plagued the investigation.

Allegations of widespread fraud in the Aug. 20 ballot threaten to scuttle the international strategy to combat the burgeoning Taliban insurgency at a time when public support for the war in the United States and Europe is waning.

The United States and its international partners are anxious for a U.N.-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.

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."