A governor in northern Afghanistan has become the second in the region to defy an order by President Ashraf Ghani to step down, deepening a political crisis facing the US-backed government in Kabul. Abdul Karim Khadam, the governor of northern Samangan province, was sacked along with four other provincial governors last week. But he followed Atta Mohammad Noor, the heavyweight governor of neighbouring Balkh province, who refused to leave office after he was also sacked in December. Noor’s refusal to step down has turned the so-called “King of the North” into one of Afghanistan’s most infamous politicians and a potential contender in presidential elections due in 2019, while underscoring the weakness of Ghani’s government. Khadam’s decision to follow suit has deepened the crisis and threatened to further ethnic divisions between Tajiks and the Pashtun-dominated south, which often dominate Afghanistan’s politics. An ethnic Turkmen, Khadam belongs to the Tajik-dominated Jamiat-e-Islami party, of which Noor is also a member. “The decision is unfair and unjust. It is against the principles. I condemn this decision and don’t accept it. I will wait for Jamiat party stance about this,” he told reporters late on Sunday. Published in Daily Times, February 20th 2018.