Bangladesh has seen long periods of military rule

The call comes after the head of the army said that Bangladesh should not go back to being an "elective democracy".

The current army-backed interim government postponed elections, which were due in January, after months of street protests and violence.

It has vowed to clear up corruption and dozens of senior politicians and associates have been arrested.

US ambassador Patricia Butenis was speaking after meeting the chief election officer and embassy colleagues on Tuesday.

"I, of course, emphasised the desirability of issuing a timeline for the election," Reuters news agency reported Ms Butenis as saying.

"We understand that the timeline depends on when the electoral reforms will be carried out, but again I urged them to have a projection so the government can make it public," she said.

The interim government has said it will not hold elections until it has completed its reforms, which include tackling corruption.

Military assessment

On Monday, army chief Lt-Gen Moeen U Ahmed issued a scathing assessment of the history of democracy in Bangladesh, saying the country should not go back to being run by an "elective democracy".

He said democracy in Bangladesh had so far led to corruption, violations of human rights and criminalisation threatening the state's survival.

But he did not elaborate on what kind of a system should be introduced as replacement.

Lt-Gen Ahmed also blamed the corruption generated by continuous political turmoil as the reason behind Bangladesh's stunted economic growth.

"My contention is that had corruption not been a persistent factor, the full economic potential of Bangladesh could have been realised at a much faster rate," he said.

Elections were scheduled to be held in Bangladesh on 22 January.

But after weeks of political violence, they were postponed and an emergency declared.

Since then dozens of political figures and their associates have been arrested on corruption charges.

The country is currently being run by an army-backed interim government headed by former central bank chief, Fakhurddin Ahmed.