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Governor of Afghanistan's volatile Helmand says 'transferred'

The governor of Afghanistan's volatile Helmand province, where Taliban hold some districts and opium cultivation is flourishing, has been transferred out of the job, he said Friday.

Asadullah Wafa, appointed provincial governor in December 2006, told AFP his "transfer" came after he had made repeated requests to President Hamid Karzai to be moved out of the tough post.

Wafa said he has been appointed as director of a complaints committee in the national security section of Karzai's office.

Karzai's office would not comment on the move, seen as significant with Helmand a key nexus of a Taliban-led insurgency and producer of most of Afghanistan's illegal opium.

No replacement has been announced.

A leading member of the Helmand provincial council said on condition of anonymity that Wafa was "dismissed" for weak administration and failing to crackdown on drugs mafia networks, and because of international pressure.

Wafa was involved in the expulsion last month of a leading European Union official and a top British diplomat working with the United Nations following allegations they had contacted Taliban in Helmand without Karzai's knowledge.

Most of the 7,500 British troops in Afghanistan are based in Helmand, including Britain's Prince Harry. The province experiences some of the worst violence of an insurgency led by the Taliban, who are trying to regain power after being ousted in late 2001.

On January 31, a Taliban suicide bombing in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed Wafa's deputy governor and five other people.

Source: ANC News