Kabul, Afghanistan ? Afghanistan’s national elections — beset by deadly Taliban attacks, feuding warlords and political squabbling — are in jeopardy and may have to be delayed again, a top government official said Thursday.

After weeks of assurances that the vote would take place in September, Farooq Wardak, a senior member of the Afghan election management body, said the group could not meet a deadline to schedule a vote that month.

Afghan law says the polling date must be set at least 90 days in advance, making today the last chance to announce a Sept. 30 election.

Wardak said the group would not reach a decision on a date until at least next week. “Much more consultation is required,” he told The Associated Press as he shuttled between meetings. “I’m hopeful that next week we’ll have a decision.”

Wardak initially said the government would “stick to” the 90-day requirement for scheduling the election date. But after meeting with top U.N. official Jean Arnault and President Hamid Karzai, he backed off, saying there was “always flexibility.”

“If all the preparations are in place, the end of September is still possible,” Wardak said.

Karzai has pledged repeatedly to hold elections in September, despite mounting violence and concern that warlords and drug barons will use guns and wealth to cement their power.

Presidential and parliamentary elections were already delayed from June, and October is seen as the last chance to hold a vote before snow closes high mountain passes until spring 2005.

Afghan women wait to register to vote in the country's first election at the voter registration center in Kabul, Afghanistan. The women are some of the refugees repatriated to Afghanistan from Southern Iran to participate at elections where more than 4 million Afghans, one-third of them women, have signed up to vote. Afghan officials said Thursday, however, that elections may be postponed past September.

Wardak said the government statistics office had yet to deliver population estimates needed to decide on the distribution of parliamentary seats.

He also said only four of 20 political parties consulted by the election body insisted on the parliamentary vote being held this fall.

The votes are supposed to be held simultaneously, but observers say there is a possibility officials could separate them, holding the presidential vote in October and the parliamentary election next year.

Karzai argues that blocking the new Parliament would betray Afghans’ hopes, some three years after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime.

International officials have been cautioning for months that security was simply not adequate to hold the election.