Supporters of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah held street protests in Kabul on Saturday as fears grow of unrest erupting over alleged fraud in the election one week ago.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday intervened for the first time in the country's growing election crisis, backing a call for the United Nations to help solve a standoff over alleged fraud.

Abdullah Abdullah, previously seen as the front-runner to succeed Karzai, has asked the U.N. to step in and has vowed to reject the result due out next month because of "blatant" fraud committed in the vote a week ago.

About 100 supporters of Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah demonstrated in Kabul on Thursday against alleged election fraud in the first public protest of a growing political crisis.

Abdullah boycotted the vote count on Wednesday, saying he was the victim of "blatant fraud" in the run-off election to chose a successor to President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power.

Afghan presidential election candidate Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday demanded a halt to vote-counting over fraud allegations, taking the country to the brink of a political crisis during its first democratic transfer of power.

Abdullah ramped up his complaints over alleged fraud in Saturday's run-off election by accusing his opponent Ashraf Ghani, outgoing President Hamid Karzai and the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of all being involved.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has dismissed suggestions that his country could descend into the same chaos as Iraq when U.S.-led troops pull out and leave the national police and army to impose security.

Both countries have been at the center of U.S. wars, and are plagued by insurgencies fighting against local security forces trained by the American military.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has urged Afghanistan's leader to help stop insurgents escaping a major military offensive near their border, as residents who fled the area anxiously awaited news Tuesday from those left behind.

Sharif asked President Hamid Karzai to seal their border along a mountainous tribal area, where the Pakistani military has deployed troops, tanks and jets in a long-awaited crackdown on the Taliban and other militants.

Afghan voters on Saturday offered contrasting opinions of President Hamid Karzai's 13-year rule, which began with the heady optimism of 2001 when the Taliban were ousted and will end after the current election.

Casting ballots to choose his successor, voters looked back at his turbulent time in office and passed judgment on his successes and failures as Afghanistan faces a resilient insurgency and a growing economic crisis.

Taliban insurgents Wednesday denounced U.S. plans to keep troops in Afghanistan up to the end of 2016, threatening to wage war against the "occupation" until the very last foreign soldier pulls out.

But outgoing President Hamid Karzai welcomed the timetable for the U.S.'s complete withdrawal and called on the insurgents to seize a "historic" opportunity to seek peace after more than a decade of war.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Monday accused a Pakistan-based militant group of being behind last week's attack by gunmen on an Indian diplomatic mission in the west of his war-torn country.

On the eve of talks between India's new Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, Karzai blamed Lashkar-e-Taiba for Friday's attack on the consulate in Herat, the latest in a string of assaults on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

As he ponders leaving some troops in Afghanistan after longest U.S. war, Barack Obama harkens back to the September 11, 2001 attacks to justify more than a decade of sacrifice.

Whether the U.S. president is also using that imagery to justify longer U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan, senior political aides will not say.