Gates plays down impact of Afghan security shakeup

ABOARD A U.S. MILITARY AIRCRAFT (Reuters) - The United States on Monday played down the impact of the removal of two top Afghan security officials, calling it an internal matter and urging President Hamid Karzai to name replacements of "equal caliber."

The removal of Interior Minister Hanif Atmar and intelligence chief Amrullah Saleh, who both enjoyed strong U.S. support, took NATO leadership and diplomats by surprise.

"It's obviously an internal matter for the Afghans," U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said.

But, citing an insurgent attack on last week's peace conference addressed by Karzai, Gates added: "It may be that there was a need for accountability in that respect."

Insurgents fired at least four rockets at a giant tent holding a traditional jirga (gathering) of 1,600 Afghan elders and notables on Wednesday. They all fell short, but the attack was followed up by a commando raid by three insurgents wearing suicide vests.

While there were no casualties apart from the attackers -- two were shot dead and one captured -- the incident was embarrassing for Karzai, who convened the meeting to discuss his proposals to make peace overtures to the Taliban.

"We have a number of capable ministers that we're working with, and I would just hope that President Karzai will appoint in the place of those who have left people of equal caliber," Gates told reporters traveling with him on his plane after talks in Azerbaijan.

Gates added that he did not believe the shakeup raised questions about the reconciliation effort.

RESIGNED OR PUSHED?

Speculation nevertheless circulated in Afghan media that the men had been forced out of their positions for other reasons than given by the government.

Intelligence chief Saleh is an ethnic Tajik from northern Afghanistan and was an active member of the Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban during the 1990's. Some analysts say he was pushed from his post because he may have posed an obstruction to any negotiations with the insurgents.

At last week's peace jirga, elders and religious leaders agreed, among other things, to open up talks with the Taliban and other insurgents, who draw most of their support from Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns.

At a news conference on Sunday where he announced his resignation, Saleh said there were "tens" of reasons, both "domestic" and "foreign" for why he resigned, although he did not elaborate further.

On Monday, however, Karzai's chief spokesman, Waheed Omer, rejected claims the men had resigned for any other reason than taking responsibility for a security breach at last week's jirga, adding the president even had to be persuaded by both men to accept their resignations.

"There was no other reason behind these resignations. The president ... had not decided beforehand that these two senior security officials of the Afghan government should resign," Omer told a news conference in Kabul.

Karzai has appointed the deputies of Atmar and Saleh to serve as acting interior minister and intelligence chief until new candidates are put forward.

(Additional reporting by Jonathon Burch in KABUL; Editing by David Fox