Afghan political crisis deepens as governor refuses to resign

KABUL, Feb 19 (AFP): A governor in northern Afghanistan has become the second in the region to defy an order by President Ashraf Ghani to step down, deepening a political crisis facing the US-backed government in Kabul.
Abdul Karim Khadam, the governor of northern Samangan province, was sacked along with four other provincial governors last week.
But he followed Atta Mohammad Noor, the heavyweight governor of neighbouring Balkh province, who refused to leave office after he was also sacked in December.
Noor's refusal to step down has turned the so-called "King of the North" into one of Afghanistan's most infamous politicians and a potential contender in presidential elections due in 2019, while underscoring the weakness of Ghani's government.
Khadam's decision to follow suit has deepened the crisis and threatened to further ethnic divisions between Tajiks and the Pashtun-dominated south, which often dominate Afghanistan's politics.
An ethnic Turkmen, Khadam belongs to the Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e-Islami party, of which Noor is also a member.
"The decision is unfair and unjust. It is against the principles. I condemn this decision and don't accept it. I will wait for Jamiat party stance about this," he told reporters late on Sunday.
Jamiat in a statement on Monday said his removal was "unjustified and yet another step toward increasing tension in the country". The dispute comes at a bad time for Ghani's US-backed government, which is facing growing public fury over recent deadly attacks in Kabul and elsewhere in the war-torn country that have laid bare its inability to protect civilians.
Ghani, who belongs to the country's largest Pashtun ethnic group, took the presidency in 2014 in a US-brokered power-sharing deal with his rival, Jamiat-backed Abdullah Abdullah, who was named chief executive.