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President Hamid Karzai's rival in the second round of the Afghan presidential election has announced in Kabul that he is withdrawing from the poll.
"I will not participate in the election," Dr Abdullah told supporters, saying his demands for ensuring a fraud-free election had not been met.
But he stopped short of calling for a boycott of next Saturday's vote.
Mr Karzai had rejected his demand that election officials who presided over the first round should be dismissed.
President Karzai's spokesman Waheed Omar said the withdrawal was "very unfortunate", but the election should go ahead as planned.
Earlier, the US said a pull-out would not invalidate the vote's legitimacy.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told reporters in the United Arab Emirates: "We see that happen in our own country where, for whatever combination of reasons, one of the candidates decides not to go forward."
BBC NEWS | South Asia | Abdullah pulls out of Afghan vote
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