29 January 2004	Thursday	06 Zilhaj 1424

WASHINGTON, Jan 28: The United States admitted for the first time on Tuesday that Afghanistan could miss a June deadline for general election, a development that would check the momentum in rebuilding the country.

William Taylor, the State Department's coordinator for Afghanistan, also implied that presidential and parliamentary polls, scheduled for the same time, could be held separately.

"We are targeted on June," Mr Taylor told the Senate Foreign Relations committee, when asked if the polls, a key plank in US plans to rebuild Afghanistan, would go ahead as scheduled.

"We are going through some very realistic planning, if that has to change sometime as of the next couple of months, the government of Afghanistan will take the decision."

Pressed by Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, Mr Taylor admitted it was "possible" that the timetable for the election may slip. Just last month the United States dismissed United Nations warnings that there was little chance of holding the election on time, and US officials say they are satisfied with the pace of reconstruction, despite lingering problems in some areas.

"I am not of the view at this point that elections cannot take place this June, or this summer," said US ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad on Jan 8.

UN spokesman Manuel de Almeida e Silva had earlier warned in Kabul that the rate of registration was so slow it would be "impossible" to hold the election this year.

Delaying the polls until next year would disappoint the White House, keen to highlight successful elections in Afghanistan and Iraq as key foreign policy successes before President George Bush faces voters himself in November. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said that he will try to meet the June deadline for polls. -AFP