Second Afghan Governor Defies Kabul Order to Resign, Adding to U.S. Headache
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, issued a statement supportive of Mr. Noor, an ethnic Tajik, saying the central government in Kabul should refrain from "allowing the polarization of Afghan society along ethnic lines,
and from violating the rights of national minorities." Mr. Khadam, the governor who rejected Mr. Ghani’s order to step down on Sunday, denied any foreign backing for the acts of defiance in the north.
18, 2018
KABUL, Afghanistan — A second governor of a northern Afghan province defied an order by the United States-backed central
government to step down on Sunday, deepening a political schism between President Ashraf Ghani and regional leaders.
The political dispute within the Washington-backed government deepened on Sunday when another governor
and ally of Mr. Noor in the north, Abdul Karim Khadam, refused an order from Mr. Ghani that he resign as governor of Samangan Province.
Mr. Noor, a former mujahedeen commander turned businessman who has profited from trade with Central Asian states, said the president had
reneged on a deal to offer more government seats to members of his political party, Jamiat-e-Islami, in exchange for stepping down.
In defying the central government, Mr. Noor has aligned himself with ethnic minorities in the north, including the Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum,
who went into exile in Turkey to avoid possible prosecution over accusations he had ordered his bodyguards to detain and rape a political rival.
The defiant governors and the Afghan president all oppose the Taliban,
but their infighting has added to complications for the United States as it struggles to make headway against the insurgents, even as President Trump has stepped up a bombing campaign against them.
Mr. Noor’s media office said in a statement that he supported the defiance of another governor, and criticized the president.