Second Provincial Governor Defies Dismissal Orders from President Ghani

Abdul Karim Khaddam, the ousted governor of Samangan province, is the second governor after Atta Mohammad Noor, who refuses dismissal orders by the central government.

Khaddam, who has been governing Samangan for about a year, on Sunday vowed to remain as “Samangan governor” until the decision of his political party, Jamiat-e-Islami, which shares power with Ghani’s national unity government.

“I don’t accept this decision and will wait for the decision of Jamiat Party and Turkemen tribe,” said Khaddam while speaking to the media regarding his dismissal by President Ashraf Ghani.

He also spoke on behalf of his deputy governor, Dr. Zia, and said they will “continue in their posts” until the final decision being made by Jamiat Party, Turkemen and Samangan people.

This is the second provincial governor to have contested his firing order.

Atta Mohammad Noor who has governed Balkh province for a longtime, was fired by Ghani in December. But despite of several meetings hold between Jamiat Party and Ghani’s representatives, he refused to accept his dismissal.

Sallahuddin Rabbani, the head of Jamiat Party also posted on his official Facebook page today that the party will soon announce its stance regarding Khaddam’s dismissal.

“Abdulkarim Khaddam, the governor of Samangan province and a member of Jamiat Leadership Party is a respectable, experienced and expert figures of Turkemen ethnic group,” Rabbani wrote on his Facebook page.

The Independent Directorate of Local Governance (IDLG) informed late yesterday, February 17, that governors of five provinces including Mr. Khaddam had been changed or dismissed by the central government.

The authority further noted that based on the request of IDLG Mr. Abdulkarim Khaddam was replaced by Abdullatif Ibrahimi as the new governor of Samangan province.