Brown and Obama discuss Afghan poll
Prime Minister Gordon Brown and US President Barack Obama have discussed "the state of play" of the Afghan elections during a 40-minute phone call, a Downing Street spokesman said.
The two leaders agreed that an Afghan consensus needed to emerge to tackle the key challenges of security, governance and economic development in the country - as reports of electoral fraud continue to emerge.
The forthcoming G20 summit in Pittsburgh was also discussed and the two men concluded that the special relationship between Britain and America was "as strong as ever", the spokesman added.
The phone conversation between the two leaders - the eighth since President Obama was elected - was described by Downing Street as "warm and substantive".
They agreed that the G20 summit should focus on delivering jobs and economic growth, as well as addressing the needs of developing countries and helping support the drive for a climate change deal at the Copenhagen conference in December.
Mr Brown and President Obama also agreed that there continued to be "good co-operation across the full global agenda" between the UK and the US, the spokesman said.
The White House described the call as "productive" but said President Obama had expressed his "disappointment" at the Scottish Government's decision to release Lockerbie bomber Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi.
A Downing Street spokeswoman said the two leaders had "exchanged views" about the release and that Mr Brown had made clear the decision had been a matter for Holyrood.
