VIDEO: Afghan Polls Not Possible In April

Karzai issued a decree at the weekend calling for the poll to be moved forward to April to comply with the constitution.

Presidential polls in Afghanistan cannot be held next month as demanded by President Hamid Karzai, the elections commission said on Wednesday, with Aug. 20 to remain the polling day as originally scheduled.

Karzai issued a decree at the weekend calling for the poll to be moved forward to April to comply with the constitution, a move seen as stirring up political turmoil at a time of increasing threat from a growing Taliban insurgency.

"Due to the weather, security, budgetary and technical problems that we have, the elections cannot be held on the basis of the presidential decree," said Azizullah Ludin, the head of government-appointed election commission.

Analysts said with the commission sticking to the original date, a protracted period of political horse-trading would follow and opposition leaders could try to replace Karzai with an interim leader or extract guarantees he would not use his office to campaign.

The United States, Afghan opposition groups and rival presidential contenders all back the original August date.

The constitution says the president's term ends on May 21 and polls must be held at least a month before that.

Rival leaders had agreed with Karzai 11 months ago that it was impractical to hold an election in the spring because that would mean organising it during the harsh Afghan winter.

But, when the polls were set for Aug. 20, those same opposition leaders began to raise doubts about Karzai's legitimacy to remain in office after May 21.

Few think that polls can be organised in Afghanistan in little over a month, so Karzai's move effectively called the opposition's bluff.

His decree is seen as forcing them to recognise his legitimacy after May 21 and allows him to retain the advantages of office while he goes on the election campaign.

Ludin said at a news conference that, given the other factors and the commission's lack of preparedness for setting up polling stations on time, the elections would have to be held on Aug. 20.

The United Nations special envoy to Afghanistan swiftly hailed the commission's decision, saying the original polling date was important for the political stability of the country and the legitimacy of its constitution.

The date would also provide the time needed by the commission and part of the international community involved in helping the polls with funding and security for it, a statement quoted envoy Kai Eide as saying.

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The squabbling among Afghanistan's political class only undermines its fledgling democracy as it battles the hardline Islamist Taliban militia.

Clashes this year have already risen past the record levels in the same period last year, the worst year of violence since U.S.-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban for sheltering the al Qaeda leaders behind the Sept. 11 attacks.

On Wednesday, a car bomb blast went off at the entrance of a key U.S. base to the north of Kabul, followed by a suicide bomber blowing himself up metres away, the U.S. military said.

Three U.S. contractors suffered minor wounds, it said.

Separately, three soldiers from the NATO-led force were killed by an explosion in southern area Afghanistan on Tuesday, the alliance said.

One of the main reasons for choosing the August date was that it would give time for the further build-up and training of Afghan forces and the arrival of 17,000 extra U.S. forces ordered by U.S. President Barack Obama.

There are already more than 75,000 foreign troops under the command of NATO and the U.S. military in Afghanistan, where the al Qaeda-backed Taliban have regrouped since 2005.

The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the elections, the second one for choosing a president directly by poll in Afghan history.

Karzai, who has been leading Afghanistan since the Taliban's ouster in 2001, won a five-year term in office in 2004.

Once a darling of the West, his reputation has plummeted over poor governance

Watch the VIDEO: Afghanistan's election season