Afghan Intelligence Chief Quits In Protest Of Ghani's Pakistan Visit

Rahmatullah Nabil

The head of Afghanistan’s intelligence agency, National Directorate of Security chief Rahmatullah Nabil, has resigned from his post, saying in his resignation letter that he was quitting as a result of policy disagreements with President Ashraf Ghani.

Nabil’s resignation comes a day after he posted to his Facebook page a lengthy criticism of Ghani’s December 9 visit to Pakistan to attend a regional conference hosted by Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Nabil, who has blamed Pakistan for supporting Taliban militants in Afghanistan, also objected to Sharif’s December 9 claim at the Islamabad conference that “the enemies of Afghanistan are Pakistan’s enemies.”

Nabil said that while Sharif was making that statement, Taliban militants were beheading and killing innocent Afghan civilians at Kandahar Airfield and in the provinces of Helmand, Takhar, and Badkhshan.

Ghani’s office announced on December 10 that Ghani has appointed Mohammad Masud Andarabi as the acting head of the National Directorate of Security.

Andarabi previously was the deputy director of operations at the Afghan intelligence agency.

With reporting by AP, AFP and Khaama Press