UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- China's UN envoy on Tuesday called for assisting Afghanistan in improving its security situation ahead of the presidential election set for later this month.

At a Security Council debate on Afghanistan, China's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Zhang Jun said the international community should offer support to Afghanistan for smooth election.

He said China appreciates the work and efforts made by Afghanistan for the preparation of election, which is in the final phase.

In order to maintain the political and social stability of Afghanistan, he voiced hope that the afghan electoral bodies will draw the experiences and lesson from last year's parliamentary election to ensure an orderly progress of all elections.

He also voiced hope that the Afghan national defense and security forces will pre-deploy for security situations that may happen during elections.

In addition, the Chinese envoy called on all political factions in Afghanistan to strengthen unity and address differences on elections through dialogue.

Before Zhang spoke, Tadamichi Yamamoto, special representative of the secretary general for Afghanistan, expressed support for relative Afghan parties to conduct a "credible and inclusive" presidential election.

He described the election as "another step in strengthening the foundation of a representative democratic political system" in the country.

The Sept. 28 poll will be the fourth presidential election in Afghanistan since 2001, when the United States invaded the country following the September 11 attacks and overthrew the Taliban that had been in power since 1996.