KABUL, May 20: Afghan President Hamid Karzai met 12 provincial governors on Tuesday to demand they hand over millions of dollars in customs revenue which they have withheld from the cash-strapped central government.

Deputy defence minister General Abdul Rashid Dostam and an army corps commander, Gen Atta Mohammad, also attended the meeting, a presidential office official said.

He would not give details of what was discussed, saying President Karzai would make a statement later in the week.

Mr Karzai’s showdown with the recalcitrant and powerful governors of Afghanistan’s border provinces is seen as a test of his authority as he attempts to extend the reach of his government.

He has threatened to step down if the governors fail to hand over customs duties estimated to be worth millions of dollars to the Kabul administration.

The president’s efforts to provide effective government have been severely hamstrung by the treasury’s lack of money. Police officers and civil servants say they have not been paid for the past couple of months.

In a speech broadcast on television on Sunday night, a visibly angry Karzai said that if there was no improvement in the next two to three months in Afghanistan’s state revenue and administration, he would quit.

“I will again ask to hold the loya jirga (traditional tribal assembly) and I will explain to them that your government could not work and will also give the reason why this didn’t work ... until the Afghan nation once again decides in the loya jirga and brings in another government, and that government leads the country toward betterment,” he said.

“Every day the people of Afghanistan lose hope and trust in the government, every day new questions rise in their minds and these questions and hopelessness should change to hopes and success.”

Mr Karzai summoned the governors to Kabul to demand they hand over all of their customs duty revenue to the central government, saying it was broke. —AFP