12 September 2004	Sunday	26 Rajab 1425

KABUL, Sep 11: Afghan President Hamid Karzai dismissed a powerful warlord from his post as provincial governor on Saturday in the latest move to solidify the central government's control of wayward provinces before October's polls.

Ismael Khan, who has governed the prosperous western province of Herat since the fall of the hardline Taliban regime in 2001, was given a new post as minister of mines and industry, Karzai's office said in a press statement.

Mr Karzai has appointed ambassador to Ukraine Sayed Mohammad Khair Khuwa as Herat governor and put another technocrat with links to Kabul in charge of Ghor province.-AFP