KABUL, Afghanistan -- The leading challenger in Afghanistan's national elections warned Monday that if President Hamid Karzai wins another term based on a fraudulent vote, the U.S.-led war against al Qaida and the Taliban in Afghanistan will fail.

``We will have a vacuum of power, security and stability,'' Abdullah Abdullah told McClatchy. ``Five years of illegitimate rule cannot be sustained by more troops or more resources.''

Abdullah was the runner-up in the Aug. 20 presidential election that

Karzai won, according to disputed initial tallies. Evidence of widespread fraud, however, has put a cloud over the outcome, which has yet to be announced. Abdullah, an ophthalmologist-turned-politician, is hoping that that fraud investigations will strip enough votes from Karzai to force a runoff either this autumn or in the spring.

Abdullah said Western publics are unlikely to tolerate a political outcome based on fraud. He said the Western nations already are paying ``to maintain this corrupt government'' and have to justify their presence before their own people. ``It's not like Western governments can cheat their own populations forever,'' he said.

A Karzai spokesman on Monday said that Abdullah's comments reflect a candidate who fears defeat, and is now trying to undermine the Afghan electoral system.

Once an international emissary for the United Front, an anti-Taliban alliance, Abdullah received strong support in northern Afghanistan provinces that from 1996 to 2001 served as a stronghold for the Front, also known as the Northern Alliance.

Some of the main supply routes for U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan run through Northern Alliance strongholds, and so does some of the country's electrical grid. Many Western officials are concerned that Abdullah supporters might block some of the routes or take control of the infrastructure if Karzai declares himself the winner of the elections.

The issue has also drawn the attention of top tier officials in the State Department as President Barack Obama deliberates future U.S. troop levels for Afghanistan. On Monday, a U.S. Embassy spokeswoman denied a McClatchy weekend report that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Karzai last week to urge that the fraud standards not be relaxed.

Abdullah said on a visit to Charikar in Padrwan Province north of Kabul Sunday, he met frustrated supporters who wanted to demonstrate their discontent. He said he urged them to be calm but added that he couldn't predict what will happen.

``I will do my utmost to avoid violence. I know how difficult it is to reverse things once they go in that direction,'' Abdullah said. ``But I can't guarantee anything and everything that will happen in this country. Nobody can.''

Last month, 51 U.S. troops died in Afghanistan, the highest monthly death toll in the eight-year war, and September is shaping up to be another bloody month.

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