William Hague Tells Afghanistan Leaders to Learn From Iraq Failure

British Foreign Secretary William Hague told Afghanistan's leaders on Tuesday they should learn from crisis-hit Iraq's failures and ensure an orderly transfer of power.

"It's important that Afghanistan's leaders work together," Hague told reporters during a trip to New Delhi, hours after presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah claimed victory in the disputed Afghan election despite preliminary results favouring his rival Ashraf Ghani.

"We look to them to ensure there is an orderly, legitimate and constitutional transfer of power to a new president in Afghanistan," he said.

The Afghan election stand-off has sparked concern that protests could spiral into ethnic violence at a time when Iraq has been struggling to form a new government amid a raging Sunni Islamist insurgency.

"Iraq has suffered from the failure to have a sufficiently inclusive government in recent years," Hague said, referring to the political polarisation over a new government aimed at countering the militant onslaught in Iraq.

"I hope Afghanistan will learn from that failure."

Afghanistan faces a difficult transfer of power after President Hamid Karzai's 13-year rule ends and as 50,000 US-led troops wind down their battle against Taliban insurgents.