In his resignation letter, Mr Nabil citied “a lack of agreement on policy matters” and restrictions imposed by the president which he alleged had hindered his ability to do his job.
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Rahmatullah Nabil, a favorite of USA officials, who has served two stints totaling nearly five years at the helm of the National Directorate of Security, criticized Ghani’s trip to Pakistan in a message posted on his Facebook page Wednesday – the eve of his resignation, just as the president’s plane was landing back in Kabul.
The death toll from a 27-hour Taliban siege of Kandahar airport has jumped to at least 50, officials said Thursday, after a conference in Pakistan shored up worldwide support for reviving peace talks.
Relations between Ghani and the NDS have been strained since at least the fall of Kunduz, which an inquiry last month blamed on poor leadership.
Sources from within the NDS said Nabil’s deputy Massoud Andrabi has been appointed as acting chief, reported Afghan news agency Tolo News.
Ghani later issued a statement saying he had not wanted Nabil to resign because of the hard security situation but he respected the decision. An interim replacement would be named soon, he said.
The attack will likely renew concerns about the capabilities of the Afghan security forces, who have been stretched by a stubborn insurgency since the global military coalition withdrew most of its troops and turned over responsibility for the country’s security to Afghan forces at the end of past year.
“There will be an investigation”, said General Daud Shah Wafadar, commander of the 205 Afghan national army corps stationed in Kandahar airfield.
The office of the president was not immediately reachable for comment.
Taliban militants have also been fighting government forces in the neighboring Helmand province over the past several months, and they have claimed capturing Khanshin district in the province.
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He said the blood of innocent people spilled in recent attacks was “the same color as the red carpet we trod like a catwalk”.
