The United States has increased pressure on Afghanistan to end the prosecution of an Afghan aid worker who faces possible execution for converting from Islam to Christianity.
The US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, told President Hamid Karzai by telephone that the US wants his government to show it respects religious freedom by resolving the case against 41-year-old Abdul Rahman quickly.
Ms Rice said that there is no more fundamental issue to the United States than freedom of religion and religious conscience.
The Afghan national faces a possible death sentence for converting to Christianity, an act which is against Islamic Sharia law.
The medical aid worker converted to Christianity 16 years ago, while working in Pakistan.
The case has led to international protests and angered American Christian groups which support US President George W Bush. Earlier this week Mr Bush said he was deeply troubled by the case.
23,000 US troops are still fighting remnants of the Taliban in Afghanistan. The US helped form the country's present government.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard also lent his voice to the growing protests.
Mr Howard, who has deployed an elite group of special forces troops to the insurgency-wracked provinces of southern Afghanistan, said he would write to Mr Karzai to protest the case.
