Allegations of voter fraud in Afghanistan may be creating a rift between the United States and Britain.

Appearing on the BBC, US special envoy to Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke had remarkably different things to say about the situation in Afghanistan than British Foreign Secretary David Miliband did.

Downplaying the election controversy in Afghanistan, Mr. Holbrooke characterized the rampant allegations of fraud as the sloppy, but normal side effects of democracy. Mr. Miliband said free and fair are not how his government would describe the elections. And while Holbrooke suggested that delaying the vote through a recount would only help the Taliban, Miliband emphasized that allegations of fraud must be investigated.

Eight years after the 9/11 attacks, the US finds itself mired in controversy in Afghanistan. Troop deaths are at an all-time high, public support for the war is at all-time low, and efforts to build democracy through a national election have descended into chaos. Given the rampant allegations of corruption, the Christian Science Monitor stated in a recent editorial, the Obama administration should press for a recount:

For the moment, though, the immediate focus should be on a vote recount. If President Karzai did receive less than 50 percent of the vote, as a recount may likely reveal, the US and other Western powers should step up efforts to make sure the runoff election is not corrupted.

Richard Holbrooke told the BBC that critics of the election should not “jump to conclusions,” and that the Taliban and Al Qaeda would benefit the longer the count is delayed.

"The beneficiary of that would be the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and I need to underscore that... the beneficiary of any delays of the sort you're talking about would be the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and everybody understands that."

Mr. Holbrooke tried to deflect criticism by saying that voting in the West was ‘imperfect’ as well:

"Not all of the people in Afghanistan were able to vote, and as I've said many times before this election, there are imperfect elections throughout the west as well, and holding elections under these conditions is a very brave thing to do so let's see what happens before jumping to conclusions," Mr Holbrooke told the BBC's Newsnight programme.

But Britain’s foreign secretary seemed to take a different view, according to Reuters India.

The people of Afghanistan as well as the people of Britain need a credible government in Kabul that can actually lead that country in a serious way," [David Miliband, the British Foreign Secretary said].

Asked if he was concerned about the reports of widespread fraud and vote-rigging, he said, "Of course. We will not be party to any whitewash when it comes to the election... We have concerns about very serious allegations of fraud."