He is known as the ‘King of the North’. Atta Noor, Afghanistan’s longest-serving provincial governor, has controlled the northern Balkh province for nearly 13 years. Under Mr. Noor, Balkh and it’s neighbouring provinces have seen a semblance of security and development even in the most tumultuous times. But today, Mr. Noor has raised a major political challenge to President Ashraf Ghani after the latter dismissed him as Governor. The President’s Office says Mr. Noor had submitted his resignation earlier, which has now been accepted. But Mr. Noor’s supporters say the resignation was conditional and since the conditions were not met, his dismissal is illegal.
“We do not accept this resignation,” the Jamiat-e-Islami, Mr. Noor’s party, stated last week. “No official, including the President, can remove Mr. Noor as the Governor of Balkh,” party chief Salahuddin Rabbani, who is also the country’s Foreign Minister, told local media. Mr. Noor too dismissed the resignation. In an interview last week, he told this writer that he would fight his “illegal” removal. “It was an undated resignation that was submitted as part of a larger deal, conditions of which have not been delivered.”
Not everyone in the Jamiat party has Mr. Noor’s back. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, who, as Chief Executive, shares power in the national unity government with President Ghani, has backed his removal, showing signs of a deep divide within the party that’s largely constituted of the country’s ethnic Tajik.
Tensions between the two Jamiat leaders have been brewing for a while now. Calling Mr. Abdullah a “serpent”, Mr. Noor criticised him at a party gathering last week. “Your teeth will not sink into us. We will break your teeth,” he warned. In response, Mr. Abdullah made a jibe about “protecting his teeth”. “I can assure you that I am taking care of my health and I will only use my teeth for what god meant them to be used and nothing else,” he said at a public conference on Monday.
The timing of the fallout with Mr. Noor as well as within the Jamiat party is crucial. “This could be part of a strategy for for the 2019 presidential elections. [Noor] has said that he intends to run,” said Thomas Ruttig, co-director, Afghanistan Analysts Network.
Intra-party issues
Mr. Noor feels Mr. Abdullah is attempting to sideline him within the party ahead the elections. “He [Mr. Abdullah] sees me as a threat and is trying to malign my reputation before the international community,” Mr. Noor said. “We nominated him to the unity government as our representative and he let us down.” However, the fallout between these two leaders could not only weaken the party internally, but also affect the stability of the coalition government. “If they do not reconsider its one-sided action, the Jamiat-e-Islami will nullify the unity agreement,” the party has said.
This poses a tough challenge to President Ghani who is already facing massive security challenges amid repeated terror attacks. “Atta could ask the commanders he backs to start operating against the government in order to show that he was the only one able to guarantee security in his area,” Mr. Ruttig said.
Mr. Noor has assured that he has no intention of upsetting the national security. “I have responsibility to the people and I will step down if that is what the party decides,” he said, adding that Jamiat leaders were in negotiations with the government and he would be willing to step down if his demands were met. But “if they ignore our demands, we will take appropriate civil actions,” he warned.
Ruchi Kumar is a freelance journalist based in Kabul
