President Karzai says U.N. should intervene in Afghan vote count

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai said on Friday that he was in favour of the United Nations intervening in the presidential election after one of the candidates dropped out of the process over allegations of mass fraud. Former opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah withdrew his monitors and demanded the vote count be halted, potentially derailing what is seen as a make-or-break vote before most foreign troops leave. He also called for the United Nations to intervene to salvage the process. "Pointing to Dr Abdullah's suggestion about the U.N. role ... Karzai said that not only he agreed with this suggestion but he counts it a positive step for tackling this problem," a statement from his office said. (Reporting by Mirwais Harooni and Jessica Donati; Editing by Alison Williams)