KABUL, Sep 11 (AFP) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai dismissed a powerful warlord from his post as provincial governor Saturday in the latest move to extend the central government's control of wayward provinces ahead of October's landmark polls.
Ismael Khan, a former anti-Soviet fighter who has governed the prosperous western province of Herat since the fall of the hardline Taliban regime in 2001, refused an offer of a lowly central government post as minister of mines and industry.
"Since it is a professional job and I am not a professional for this job, I will have to apologise. I cannot serve my people through this post," Khan told AFP by telephone.
The offer of the relatively unimportant ministry which oversees sectors devastated by decades of conflict was a snub for Khan, who has long been at loggerheads with the central government over his refusal to remit millions of dollars in tax revenues to Kabul.
Western security analysts and provincial officials said the dismissal could spark violence in the western province which was the scene of a fierce four-day factional battle between Khan and a rival warlord last month.
The fighting ended August 17 when the United States stepped in to broker a truce.
There have been two explosions in Herat city in the past 24 hours. One person was killed and two injured by a motorcycle bomb Friday evening while a blast at a hotel in downtown Herat early Saturday injured no one.
"We are bracing ourselves for demonstrations and watching the situation very carefully," said a Western security analyst.
US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad issued a statement urging people in western Afghanistan to comply with the government's decision.
"Security, reconstruction and the development of democratic institutions are important for all Afghans, including the people of the west, and the rights of all must be respected," he said.
Karzai had appointed ambassador to Ukraine Sayed Mohammad Khair Khuwa as Herat governor and put another technocrat with links to Kabul in charge of the neighbouring province of Ghor, according to a statement from the president's office.
"Karzai has urged the people of Herat and Ghor to cooperate with their new governors," it added.
Karzai's spokesman Jawad Ludin told AFP that despite Khan's refusal of his new post, the new provincial governor appointments would be implemented.
Herat, which borders Iran and Turkmenistan, receives the bulk of Afghanistan's import and export tax revenues but little has flowed into the central government's cash-strapped coffers.
Khan's dismissal is the latest in a string of reappointments of military commanders and provincial governors to civil posts as the government attempts to strengthen its position and extend its reach.
Since Karzai's interim administration took power more than two years ago, the president has largely failed to extend its control over Afghanistan's provinces which remain under the sway of militia commanders and warlords.
Remnants of the ousted Taliban regime continue to wage a guerrilla insurgency in the south and southeast of the country, despite an effort by 18,500 US-led troops to stamp them out.