Efforts are under way to resolve confusion over whether the final round of Afghanistan's presidential election will go ahead next Saturday.

下周六阿富汗总统最后一轮选举是否能如期举行，与当局正在处理眼下混乱的局势密切相关。

The planned run-off poll was thrown into doubt after opposition¹（反对，敌对） leader Abdullah Abdullah withdrew.

The only remaining candidate（候选人）, incumbent² President（现任总统） Hamid Karzai, has said the Afghan Independent Election Commission should decide the issue.

The US and UK say it is up to the Afghan authorities to find a solution.

They had previously³ supported a run-off vote, following the widespread fraud that marred⁴ the first round.

However the BBC's Andrew North in Kabul says they are now against it, given the danger to foreign and Afghan troops who would have to oversee⁵（监视） the poll amid Taliban attempts to disrupt it.

Our correspondent says efforts are now under way to find a legal means of bringing things to an end, and this could see the much-criticised election commission calling off the run-off, and then the country's supreme⁶ court ruling that President Karzai has won.

Then, he adds, will come the difficult process of forming a new Afghan government.

Dr Abdullah told the BBC he had made the decision "in the best interests of the country".

Earlier, he had told supporters his demands for ensuring a fraud-free election had not been met.

But he stopped short of calling for a boycott⁷（抵制，拒绝参加） of the run-off vote, due to be held next Saturday.

Mr Karzai had rejected Dr Abdullah's demand that election officials who presided over the first round should be dismissed（靠边站，被解雇）.

In a BBC interview, Dr Abdullah said he decided⁸ to pull out as "I felt that it might not help the democratic process, it might not restore the faith of the people in (the) democratic process.

"It was a hard decision and a painful decision for me, but I did it... I thought that it would be in the best interests of the country if I decide not to participate."

He added that the decision that a run-off should be held had, in itself, "helped restore the faith of the people in the process" after concerns over the conduct of the first round of voting.

'National unity⁹'

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it was up to Afghan officials to decide the next step in the election process.

"It is now a matter for the Afghan authorities to decide on a way ahead that brings this electoral process to a conclusion in line with the Afghan constitution," Mrs Clinton said in a statement.

"We will support the next president and the people of Afghanistan, who seek and deserve a better future."

She also urged Dr Abdullah to "stay engaged" and work for peace in Afghanistan.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: "Dr Abdullah has pulled out of（转败为胜） the election in the interests of national unity."

He added that he had told Mr Karzai it was now imperative¹⁰（急需的） that he formed an "inclusive（包含……在内的） administration" that could tackle corruption¹¹ and build up popular local government.

Hundreds of thousands of votes were discounted from August's first round of voting, which was marred by widespread allegations of fraud.

An investigation¹² by the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) led to Mr Karzai's share of the vote dropping to 49.67% - below the crucial 50% plus one vote threshol（极限，门槛） needed to avoid a second round.

Dr Abdullah was adjudged（宣判，判决） in the end to have won about 31% of valid¹³ votes（有效选票） cast.

Dr Abdullah - a Tajik-Pashtun former eye surgeon - served as foreign minister in the short-lived government headed by the Northern Alliance, and continued as "foreign minister in exile" throughout the years of Taliban rule, which ended in 2001.

He continued in the role in the government that was formed by President Karzai after the fall of the Taliban in 2001, leaving it five years later.