Afghan president appoints Hamdullah as new NSA

KABUL: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Saturday appointed the Afghan ambassador to the United States as his new National Security Adviser (NSA), a presidential spokesman said.

Hamdullah Mohib will replace Mohammad Hanif Atmar, who resigned earlier Saturday, citing serious differences with leadership of the government over issues related to security, peace, electoral process, national unity and consensus as well as regional and international relations, spokesman Haroon Chakhansuri tweeted.

The resignation came amid deteriorating security and increased terrorist attacks in the war-torn country. —Xinhua

Reuters: Meanwhile, Afghanistan´s President Ashraf Ghani rejected on Sunday resignations tendered a day earlier by three senior security officials, the government said. The resignations from Defence Minister Tariq Shah Bahrami and Interior Minister Wais Barmak, as well as Masoom Stanekzai, the head of the National Directorate of Security, were submitted on Saturday hours after National Security Adviser Hanif Atmar quit.

Government spokesman Haroon Chakansuri said in a statement Ghani had asked the three officials to continue with their duties and "work towards the betterment of the security situation". Two senior interior ministry officials said the security officials had cited policy differences with the government amid deteriorating security as the main reason for resigning. However, Ghani rejected the resignations and instead instructed them to find ways to prevent fresh attacks by militant groups.