Afghan president forces out powerful ‘King of the North’

KABUL: Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani Monday announced the resignation of a powerful politican nicknamed “King of the North”, sidelining a rival but angering the politician´s party who said he had been sacked.

Atta Mohammad Noor, 54, had been governor of Balkh province since 2004 but had recently been critical of the National Unity Government led by Ghani. Noor has previously hinted that he may run for the presidency in an election in 2019. Ghani has not yet confirmed if he will run again.

The president´s office in a statement said Noor, a senior leader of the Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e Islami party, had resigned from his post. “President Ashraf Ghani has approved the resignation of the governor of Balkh Mr. Atta Mohammad Noor,” the statement said, adding that engineer Mohammad Daud has been appointed to take his place.

Noor was not immediately available to comment. But Jamiat-e Islami in a statement strongly condemned it