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US Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kabul Friday to push for a resolution to the bitter election standoff that threatens to derail Afghanistan鈥檚 first democratic transition of power.

He has met with presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani, current President Hamid Karzai, and United Nations officials. He is meeting rival candidate Abdullah Abdullah later today in a bid to get both candidates not to preemptively declare themselves victors and to agree to an extensive audit of suspected election fraud, Bloomberg reports.

鈥淲e are at a very critical moment for Afghanistan,鈥� Kerry said before his meeting with the head of the UN mission in Afghanistan. 鈥淭he future potential of a transition hangs in the balance.鈥澛�

Former foreign minister Dr. Abdullah, the winner of the first round of voting, has declared the June 14 run-off election fraudulent and withdrawn his cooperation with the country鈥檚 election commission.

In May, Abdullah polled 45 percent compared with Dr. Ghani's 32 percent. A dramatic reversal in the runoff election boosted Ghani to 56 percent of the vote compared to Abdullah鈥檚 43 percent. Ghani聽says the result is due to increased turnout in his base of support in the south and east of the country. Mr. Abdullah alleges mass fraud.

Ghani said Friday that he agreed with Kerry that no victor should be declared yet, and pledged his support for an 鈥渆xtensive audit鈥� of votes, in comments to reporters before his meeting with the Secretary, according to the Wall Street Journal and the BBC.

The rival campaigns disagree on how an audit would be carried out. Abdullah wants a more rigorous examination than that proposed by the UN, including audits of all polling stations where one candidate received more than 93 percent of the votes, and of polling stations for women where male staff were hired, the Wall Street Journal notes.

For the United States, the political stalemate is 鈥渢hreatening to undermine more than a decade of efforts to leave behind a strong Afghanistan capable of containing the Taliban insurgency and preventing extremist groups like al-Qaida from using the territory to endanger the American homeland,鈥� Bloomberg reports.

The US wants聽Mr. Karzai's successor to sign a long delayed Bilateral Security Agreement that would allow the US to retain limited troops in the country after 2014. Karzai refused to sign the document; both Abdullah and Ghani have pledged to sign it.

But there are now questions on whether a new president can be sworn in by the previously scheduled date of August 2.

The United States threatened this week to withdraw billions in aid 颅鈥� on which the Afghan government is heavily reliant 颅颅鈥� if the impasse over allegations of fraud is not resolved.

Earlier this week, Abdullah heightened tension by telling supporters that preliminary results from the run-off was 鈥渁 coup against the people.鈥� Some Abdullah supporters called for the formation of a parallel government. The Washington Post notes the concerns that a parallel government arouses:

The BBC鈥檚 Karen Allen provided on-the-ground analysis from Kabul on Kerry鈥檚 visit:

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