THE sacked governor of Helmand province, where British troops are engaged in fighting the Taliban, hit out yesterday at Afghanistan’s drug mafia, suggesting that it might have been behind his sudden ousting.

“I think in Afghanistan, particularly Helmand province, the opium business has a strong role in everything — security, administration, corruption, terrorist activities,” said “Engineer” Mohammed Daud in a telephone interview, his first since being removed.

“The mafia or drug smugglers are against eradication, law enforcement, peace and stability and against me. That’s the real struggle in our area. Let’s see who is winning.”

Daud’s removal had not been officially announced by last night but the decision was made clear when he met President Hamid Karzai on Friday.

“The president told me he was making changes and several governors were being removed within a few days,” he said. “That’s his prerogative. Nobody else can decide.”

He was instructed to return to Helmand where the announcement will be made, although yesterday he was still in Kabul, the capital. “It’s usual to make changes,” he added. “Maybe it’s a promotion.” He was reportedly offered the post of governor of another province, Farah, but turned it down and is now waiting to hear what else he will do.

Daud’s abrupt dismissal came as a shock to British officials, who had lobbied for him to be appointed in January before the deployment of troops. Helmand is the biggest poppy-producing province in Afghanistan, responsible for 20% of world production, and Daud’s predecessor, Sher Muhammad Akhundzada, was alleged to have links with the drugs mafia.

Last month a senior Foreign Office official spoke of British frustration that Karzai continued to hold meetings with Akhundzada, whom he made a senator, as well as appointing his brother, Amir Muhammad Akhundzada, as Daud’s deputy. “The president is undermining his own governor,” said the official. “It doesn’t help what we’re trying to do.”

Daud was regarded as one of the few clean governors in Afghanistan and it is hard not to regard his dismissal as a setback for British strategy.

However, a Nato official in Kabul yesterday put a gloss on it, suggesting that removing Daud had been the price of also getting rid of the deputy before the poppy eradication programme is due to start in the new year.

Other senior British officials on the ground said that both the British and the Americans were still hoping to keep Daud in place.

“There is all sorts of intrigue going on,” one said. “Nothing happens in this country unless there has been an official announcement and there hasn’t been one yet.

“There has been a power struggle between Daud and his deputy. But technically Daud is still governor and his deputy is certainly not acting governor.”

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