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Anchor Marco Werman speaks with the BBC’s Chris Morris in Kabul about the mounting challenges posed by escalating violence and allegations of voting fraud in Afghanistan.

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MARCO WERMAN: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World. You get the sense on days like today that things might be about to spiral out of control in Afghanistan. Today the deputy head of the country’s national intelligence agency was killed in a suicide bomb attack. The Taliban claim responsibility. Then you read a story in this morning’s New York Times that a brother of Afghanistan’s president had his aides prevent thousands of people from casting their ballots in last month’s election because they planned to vote for an opposition candidate. The BBC’s Chris Morris is in the Afghan capital Kabul. Chris first what can you tell us about that bombing that took the life of the head of Afghanistan’s national intelligence agency?

CHRIS MORRIS: Well it’s a big blow to the government. This was an attack which took place in a city about 60 miles east of Kabul and he was a high profile figure – the deputy head of national intelligence, the former head of intelligence in Kandahar, a Taliban stronghold. So a pretty crucial cog in the machine and I think there’ll be some people feeling well if they can get someone like him they can get almost anyone.

WERMAN: Right indeed. I mean it’s another show of force by the Taliban. Generally what’s been the response to the growing insecurity?

MORRIS: I think people are very concerned. It’s one of the things which clearly casts a shadow over the election itself as well. I mean we saw big military offensives in some part of the south, the British in Helmand for example. The Americans also further south in Helmand trying to create more secure environments for the election. And although we don’t still have the full details and as you know there are many allegations that this election is mired in fraud. It seems that in many parts of the south – in Helmand, in Kandahar – the turnout was extremely low and so the Taliban threats worked in that sense.

WERMAN: Right you say the election mired in fraud and more claims today of ballot box stuffing. A leader of a southern Afghan tribe has said that local police officers stuffed ballot boxes with thousands of votes for President Karzai and Afghanistan’s Election Commission is investigating more that 2500 complaints of irregularities. What’s been Karzai and Karzai’s government response to these claims?

MORRIS: You know there response has pretty much been to hunker down and say you know we’re not going to respond to individual complaints. But I think it’s fair to say that nearly every observer I’ve spoken to, whether Afghan or foreign, here in Kabul has been pretty shocked by the extent of the claims of fraud. No one expected this to be a squeaky clean perfect election but the reports coming in from around the country are almost too many to ignore really. We’ve had only one response in the last couple of days from the Karzai camp. A source close to the president saying you know there is a process to be followed of complaints and referring to other candidates, notably Doctor Abdullah, his main challenger, their pointing fingers and this isn’t the time to be pointing fingers. But there has to be a fear at the back of their mind that even if they win if all the other candidates essentially refuse to accept the legitimacy of the election then you have what can only be a weakened and rather discredited president in office.

WERMAN: So these multiplying allegations of fraud have left Washington with little hope for a credible partner in the war once the results are final. How damaging is this for Hamid Karzai? It is damaging for him because he needs obviously a degree of credibility both domestically and internationally. If he suddenly has a fired up opposition if you like who are describing him at every turn as effectively an illegitimate ruler who stole in the election – and that’s what they’ve been saying in the last few days – then it’s obviously going to be harder for him to focus on the things which he’s begin urged to do. Crack down on corruption; get the Afghan army and police into more of a lead role in fighting against the insurgency, which obviously involves years of training. And I think the fear is is if you had a prolonged political struggle about legitimacy in Kabul a lot of these issues could start to slip.

WERMAN: I began by saying Chris that one feels on days like today, at least from here, that Afghanistan could be about to spiral out of control. But from where you are, right there in Afghanistan, does it feel that way?

MORRIS: One senior western official here in Kabul described to me just a couple of days ago there’s no denying it this is a very bumpy patch. There’s a lot of pessimism around. He had spent his day speaking to senior Afghan officials; essentially he said urging them not to panic. Yes things could go very badly here. I mean we’ve heard that pretty bluntly from very senior officials and that’s why they’re saying now is the time to focus and really try and put things back on track. But again that all comes back to that election. If you can’t say this was a credible, legitimate election then that’s just going to complicate matters for months and months to come.

WERMAN: The BBC’s Chris Morris in Kabul. Thanks Chris very much.

MORRIS: Thank you.

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