WASHINGTON (PAN): US Special Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke will arrive in Afghanistan next week to be on the ground to monitor the August 20 presidential elections.

President Barack Obama had personally asked Holbrooke to be in Afghanistan during the election period, US Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P J Crowley told journalists on Thursday.

"Tomorrow, Holbrooke will depart on another trip to South Asia.  He will make stops in Pakistan, will be in Afghanistan for the elections next week, and will also stop in Turkey," he said at the daily State Department press briefing.

A new report issued by the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, a research center at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, suggested the upcoming presidential elections might require a second round of voting, for which the US and the international community were not prepared.

"The opinion among many international scholars is that the upcoming Afghan presidential elections are likely to be plagued by fraud," which could lead to post-election unrest, the report warned.

The US and the international community thus should "do their utmost to support a free and fair election process - including preparing for the high probability of a second round of elections in September 2009," it added.

"Only by supporting the democratic election process in Afghanistan are the US and the international community likely to increase their legitimacy and thereby turn the tide of Afghan opinion in their favor," the report said.