Afghan President Hamid Karzai removed two of the country’s top security officials — each with longtime ties to US forces — over an attack on a national conference exploring peace with the Taliban.
The removals on Sunday of the interior minister and intelligence chief surprised US officials and may cause major disruption within Afghanistan’s intelligence and security establishment at a critical juncture — as the US and NATO escalate the war and the Afghan government commits to offering peace to the insurgents.
The move is likely to fuel speculation over differences within the Karzai administration over its efforts to reconcile with the Taliban — including the possible release of hundreds of detained militant suspects.
The head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Amrullah Saleh, was a senior figure in the Northern Alliance that helped the US oust the Taliban regime in 2001. As a young man, Interior Minister Hanif Atmar served in Afghanistan’s communist-era intelligence agency and fought mujahidin opposed to the Soviet occupation.
“It’s a very significant event. There will be a massive fallout from these resignations both in the Interior Ministry and the NDS as alliances are shuffled,” said Candace Rondeaux, senior analyst on Afghanistan for the International Crisis Group think tank. “They appear to be forced resignations, and reflect significant worries of Karzai’s administration over the loyalty of those leading key security agencies in the country.”
Sunday’s resignations were a surprise — not least as the attack on the jirga last week was thwarted. Security officials have rarely faced punishment or resigned over previous major attacks in the capital.
Replacing the security chiefs comes after Karzai’s visit last month to Washington that eased strains in the bilateral relationship.
“Both the ministers of interior and intelligence are people we admire and whose service we appreciate,” Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.
He also said the US had favored Atmar for the interior ministry job.
However, General Stanley McChrystal, commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement that he respected the Afghan president’s authority to make this “difficult decision.”
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS