WASHINGTON (PAN): Indicating the Obama administration would oppose any delay in the Afghan presidential elections, the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, has said the US is determined to ensure there is a level playing field for all candidates.

The Obama administration expected the presidential elections would be held on August 20, Rice told the CNN in an interview when she was referred to news reports coming from Afghanistan that President Hamid Karzai might postpone the polls as the gap between him and opponent was narrowing down.

We expect the elections to be held on August 20 as planned. The Afghan people are ready and waiting, and our aim is to ensure that there's a level playing field, that the Afghan people have an opportunity to freely choose their next leader, Rice observed.

Rice said it was extremely important to win the war on militancy in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This is hugely important to America's national security. We need to defeat al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and its extremist allies. We need to ensure that Pakistan is not operating as a safe haven from which al-Qaeda and affiliated terrorists can attack us in the homeland, she concluded.