Karzai's spokesman to resign soon

Kabul, Jan 4 (ANI): Afghan President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Waheed Omer, has declared his intention to resign from the post soon, adding that his motive for such a step is purely personal and not political.

"To be clear, I have been thinking about this for some time. There is nothing that relates this to a political issue," The Washington Post quoted Omer, as saying.

Over the past year, Omer has been facing difficult questions from the international media ranging from the extent of corruption inside the government, tensions with the United States over the war, allegations of electoral fraud, and Karzai's mental health.

However, while declaring about his plans to resign, he did not mention any of those issues, but simply said that his choice to step down was a "normal decision by a civil service worker."

In the recent past, Afghanistan has experienced high-profile defections from the government, most prominently Hanif Atmar as the minister of interior and Amarullah Saleh as the intelligence chief. Both were pushed out in June after the Taliban attacked a peace conference in Kabul, the paper said.

Prior to joining the presidential palace, Omer worked as the spokesman for Karzai's 2009 re-election campaign for his fluency in English speaking skills and other languages of Afghanistan. (ANI)