The US government has rejected accusations from Afghan president Hamid Karzai that the West committed fraud during last year's presidential elections.

According to the president, some embassies - which he did not identify - sought to bribe members of the Afghan electoral commission.

His comments came just days after President Barack Obama's visit to Kabul. During the visit the US president called on his Afghan counterpart to get a grip on widespread corruption.

President Karzai specifically mentioned Philippe Morillon, the head of the EU observer mission to the Afghan elections. The mission reported that one-third of the votes for Mr Karzai were the result of vote rigging.

The Afghan president also accused former UN deputy head of mission Peter Galbraith of threatening a senior election official if he announced results in Mr Karzai's favour. In a reaction Mr Galbraith said the accusations were "obviously absurd and preposterous". He said the president's remarks just underscored how unreliable he was as an ally.