New York (AP):

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon fired the top American official at the United Nations (UN) mission in Afghanistan yesterday after a widely publicised dispute with his boss over how to deal with widespread fraud charges in the country's presidential election.

UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said in a statement that Ban decided to recall Peter Galbraith and end his appointment as the UN's deputy special representative.

Disputed election

Diplomats said Galbraith disagreed with the head of the UN mission, Kai Eide, over how the UN should handle the disputed election.

The secretary-general reaffirmed "his full support for Eide" and made his decision "in the best interest of the mission," Montas said.

Neither Galbraith nor Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, have offered details of the disagreement, though Eide has confirmed that the two split over election issues.

The delay in final results from the August 20 vote has led to fears of a power vacuum in the Afghan government that could endure until spring, even as Taliban violence against United States and NATO soldiers and Afghan civilians continues to rise.

Preliminary results show President Hamid Karzai won a majority, with former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah in second place. But proclamation of a winner has been delayed pending a partial recount following allegations of widespread fraud.

Abdullah told the Associated Press in a telephone interview yesterday in Kabul that Galbraith's removal called into question the impartiality of the UN mission and the credibility of the election process.