KABUL — The European Union called on Thursday for a more extensive investigation into allegations of irregularities in Afghanistan’s presidential election, citing ‘‘highly worrying indications of potentially widespread fraud.’’
The statement came a day after the Afghan commission overseeing the vote postponed the release of preliminary results until next week so it could audit the ballots from 1,930 polling stations that had at least 599 votes in 30 provinces.
Thijs Berman, the head of the EU’s election monitoring team in Kabul, welcomed that step but said the commission’s choice to audit ‘‘only polling stations with 599 votes and over significantly limits the possible detection of fraud.’’
Other factors also should be examined, including highly improbable votes for one single candidate in polling stations, or unlikely discrepancies between votes cast by women and men, he added.
Altogether, the number of problematic polling stations could well exceed 6,000 of the 22,828 stations nationwide, Berman said at a news conference in Kabul.
‘‘An additional in-depth audit of the votes is necessary, given these highly worrying indications of potentially widespread fraud,’’ he said. ‘‘This is technically possible without much delay.’’
Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister and one-time aide to a famed warlord during the Afghan anti-Soviet guerrilla campaign, garnered the most votes in the first round of voting on April 5 but failed to get the majority needed to win outright. He has alleged widespread ballot box stuffing and other efforts to rig the June 14 runoff vote in favor of his rival Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former Finance Minister and World Bank official.
Ahmadzai’s team also has registered complaints of fraud but called for the Independent Election Commission’s process to be respected.
Whoever wins will replace President Hamid Karzai, the leader since the 2001 US-led invasion that ousted the Taliban. He was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
Western officials had hoped the election would be an important step toward democracy for the troubled country as the United States and its allies wind down their 13-year combat mission. Both candidates have promised to sign a security pact with the United States that would allow nearly 10,000 American troops to stay in the country beyond the end of this year to train Afghan security forces and perform counterterrorism operations.
Karzai’s 2009 reelection also was marred by widespread ballot box stuffing and proxy voting, leading Abdullah, who was runner-up at the time, to refuse to participate in the runoff.
The UN mission in Afghanistan also welcomed the IEC’s decision to delay the announcement of preliminary results until Monday and encouraged the panel ‘‘to implement further measures that could enhance the transparency, neutrality, and impartiality of the electoral process, and separate and reject fraudulent ballots from valid votes.’’
Insurgents, meanwhile, have stepped up attacks as part of their annual offensive when they take advantage of warmer weather to move more freely in the mountainous country.
Taliban fighters fired two rockets into the military side of the Kabul airport on Thursday, striking Karzai’s helicopter, an official said.
Abdul Wahab Wardak, the commander of the military airport, said only one of the two rockets exploded and no casualties were reported.
The attack on the airport, which is in one of the most heavily guarded areas of the Afghan capital, underscores the resiliency of militants led by the Taliban who are fighting against the Western-backed government.
A bomb hidden inside a garbage bin exploded in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, killing one person and wounding five others, police spokesman Shir Jan Durani said.
And a land mine struck children who were playing on a field in the western Herat province, killing a girl and a boy and wounding eight children, provincial chief of police Abdul Raouf Ahmadi said.
The United Nations, meanwhile, said the number of child casualties caused by the conflict in Afghanistan rose by 30 percent in 2013 compared with the previous year, with at least 545 killed and 1,149 wounded.