WASHINGTON - The United States on Thursday said the Afghans were responsible for their own elections, explaining it shared the goal of having the strongest possible presidential ballot in 2014.

Hours after President Hamid Karzai expressed concern over the presence of foreigners in the Electoral Complaints Commission, a senior US official said the international community would be governed by the Afghans' wishes.

"It is Afghanistan and Afghans who are responsible for their own elections," State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland told reporters at her daily news conference.

She said the US efforts were designed to support what Afghan electoral authorities themselves were leading -- trying to build the strongest possible electoral system -- to minimize fraud through all kinds of measures.

The measures included training, public information, domestic observation and improved ways to identify eligible voters, Nuland added. "So we will obviously be governed by the Afghans themselves in terms of the kinds of support that they need from the international community…"

In response to Karzai's expectation that foreigners would not meddle in the democratic exercise, Nuland said the US just shared the goal of having the strongest possible elections in 2014 when they came around. (Pajhwok)