Afghan president reportedly plans purge of provincial leaders after surge in Taliban attacks
Published December 01, 2014
FILE - In this Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2014 file photo, Afghan security personnel arrest a suspect after a bomb explosion in Kabul, Afghanistan. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, File)
KABUL, Afghanistan Facing an intensified Taliban insurgency, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani plans to fire senior civilian and military leaders in the country's most volatile provinces to reinvigorate the battle against militants, officials have told The Associated Press.
Already, Kabul police chief Gen. Mohammad Zahir has resigned following a string of attacks in the capital over three days that killed four foreigners -- including an employee of the British embassy -- and several Afghan civilians. Officials and diplomats who spoke to the AP say Ghani next will remove governors and generals in five provinces where the Taliban have held territory for years.
With Afghan security forces suffering high casualties in the run-up to the official Dec. 31 end of the U.S. and NATO combat mission, the newly elected president is eager to chart a new course. But the question remains of what effect the shake-up will ultimately have in a war-torn country mired in corruption and riven by complex ethnic and tribal rivalries.
"Ghani feels there is a need for reform within the armed forces," said Franz-Michael Mellbin, the special representative in Afghanistan for the European Union. "There is an inherent weakness in the way the armed forces have been managing their personnel that didn't allow the best and brightest to step forward."
Ghani plans to replace officials in the northern provinces of Kunduz and Baghdis, Ghazni and Nangahar provinces in the east bordering Pakistan and Helmand in the south, presidential spokesman Nazifullah Salarzai told the AP.
The provincial sweep will roll out over the next two to three months and will begin soon, he said.
"Senior government officials will be replaced," Salarzai said.
Areas of all five provinces have been under Taliban control for years and security forces have suffered record-high casualties as they come under regular attack by insurgents. A Nov. 23 suicide bombing at a volleyball tournament in eastern Paktika province killed at least 50 people, making it Afghanistan's deadliest terror attack this year.
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Afghan president reportedly plans purge of provincial leaders after surge in Taliban attacks