Afghanistan's four top security officials resign

The four reportedly quit over differences with the government on how to handle the deteriorating security situation that has seen attacks from Daesh and the Taliban escalate.

ghan National Security Adviser Mohammad Hanif Atmar, seen here speaking during a 2015 interview is one of the four senior security officials that have quit. (AP)

Afghanistan's ministers of defence and interior, as well as another security chief, quit on Saturday, government sources said, following the resignation of the president's national security adviser earlier in the day.
"We have received four resignations by two ministers and two senior security officials," an official in President Ashraf Ghani's office told Reuters.
Government sources said the new resignations were from Defence Minister Tariq Shah Bahrami and Interior Minister Wais Barmak, as well as Masoom Stanekzai, the head of the National Directorate of Security. They followed a decision by National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar to quit.
Officials working directly with the two ministers and Stanekzai were not immediately available to comment.
But two senior interior ministry officials said the country's top security officials cited differences with the government over policy amid the deteriorating security situation as the main reason for resigning.
Heavy fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan forces across the country this year, as well as repeated suicide attacks in Kabul and other major cities, have underlined the dire security situation facing Afghanistan.
With parliamentary elections due on October 20, authorities had been bracing for more attacks. But even so, the scale of the violence has shocked government officials, who are facing bitter criticism over their handling of the war.
The Associated Press reported that Ghani accepted the resignation Atmar, and had replaced him with Afghan Ambassador to the US Hamdullah Mohib.
Mohib also served as the non-resident ambassador to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Argentina and Columbia.
Atmar had previously served as the interior minister under the former president, Hamid Karzai, after previous posts as minister of rural development and education.
Also on Saturday, at least two people were killed and four others wounded when a suicide bomber detonated his explosives-laden vest near the office of the Election Commission in eastern Nangarhar province, officials said.
Attahullah Khogyani, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the wounded were brought to the regional hospital in the capital city Jalalabad with one in critical condition. He said the casualty count would likely rise.
Doctors are working to save the wounded, said Inamullah Miakhail, spokesman for the public health director in Nangarhar.

Security personnel inspect the side of a suicide attack near the office of the Election Commission in Jalalabad city, capital of eastern Nangarhar province, Afghanistan, Saturday, Aug. 25, 2018. At least two people were killed and four others wounded. (AP)

The attack took place when supporters of a candidate for parliament who was rejected by the Election Commission gathered to protest near the commission's office, said Khogyani. Several vehicles were damaged in the attack, he added.
It came as several tents belonging to protesters near the main Election Commission office in the capital Kabul were removed earlier Saturday by police after following threats of attacks, according to security officials.
The SITE Intelligence Group that monitors extremist groups reported that an affiliate of Daesh issued a communique claiming responsibility for the attack.