Extra-Legal Means Will Cost Afghanistan's Support of US: Kerry

The U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says any action to take power by extra-legal means will cost Afghanistan the financial and security support of the U.S.

"We call on all Afghan leaders to maintain calm in order to preserve the gains of the last decade," he said. "There is no justifiable recourse to violence...or for resort to extra-constitutional measures or threats of the same."

In a statement, the U.S. State Department Spokeswoman, Jen Psaki said a full investigation of fraud allegations was needed to ensure confidence in the final outcome.

"A full and thorough review of all reasonable allegations of irregularities is essential to ensure that the Afghan people have confidence in the integrity of the electoral process and that the new Afghan president is broadly accepted inside and outside Afghanistan," it said.

On Monday, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced preliminary results of the runoff presidential election Monday evening with Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai leading with 56.44 percent.

Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah fell behind with 43.56 percent. Monday's results were made up of 100 percent of votes cast across the country.

Head of IEC Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani said the total number of voters announced this evening was eight million; exactly 8,109,403.

Mr. Ahmadzai led the preliminary results with exactly 4,485,888 votes, with Mr. Abdullah trailing behind with 3,461,639 votes; a difference of exactly 1,024,249 votes between the two candidates.

The final result of the election will announce on July 22.