KABUL, Aug 13: Afghan President Hamid Karzai stripped powerful warlord Ismail Khan of his post as military commander of western Afghanistan in a major reshuffle of provincial governors and officials, the state Bakhtar news agency and officials said on Wednesday.

The National Security Council decided Ismail Khan could not retain his post as military commander while governor of Herat province, it said, citing a decree by President Karzai who said earlier this year that officials could not hold both military and civil posts.

A new Herat military commander would be named shortly, Bakhtar said.

Human rights organizations have accused Ismail Khan’s troops of major human rights abuses in western Afghanistan.

President Karzai has been trying to extend the authority of the central government to the provinces and rein in powerful governors and warlords.

Anti-Taliban warlord Gul Agha, governor of southern Kandahar province, has been moved to Kabul to become minister of urban development. Incumbent minister Mohammad Yusuf Pashtun takes over Gul Agha’s post as governor of the former Taliban heartland, presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin told AFP, adding that the appointments have immediate effect.

“It’s basically the process of administrative reform that the government has started,” he said of the transfers and new appointments.

“The aim is just to make things work better. This is something that usually happens in governments,” he said, adding that “it was time these changes were made.” Mr Ludin said the governors were not expected to oppose the changes.

In other moves, Kandahar security commander General Mohammad Akram has been replaced by Mohammad Hashim, according to President Karzai’s decree.

Mr Akram is waiting to be appointed to another position, Bakhtar said.

Also, the governor of southeast Zabul province, Hamidullah Tokhi, will take charge of the central province of Wardak, west of Kabul. Hafizullah will take over the Zabul governorship. Both appointments were made on the recommendation of the interior ministry, the news agency said.

President Hamid Karzai in May threatened to step down if the governors of border provinces failed to hand over customs duties estimated to be worth millions of dollars to the cash-strapped central government.

He also threatened to sack recalcitrant governors.

The governors of Herat and Kandahar provinces allegedly earned millions of dollars from customs duty on trade with neighbouring Iran and Pakistan respectively, with little, if any, of the money being handed over to cash-strapped Kabul.

Afghanistan’s working budget for the 2003-2004 financial year is $550 million, of which the international community will supply $350 million, leaving Kabul to raise the other $200 million.—AFP