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Summary President Karzais communications director and spokesman Waheed Omer has resigned.
Omer, who had been in the post for nearly two years, had the tough job of managing the presidents relations with Afghan and international media amid increasing violence in Afghanistan and tense ties between Hamid Karzai and his Western allies.My decision to leave at this point is informed by a deep conviction that under the current situation, I cannot serve the president and Afghanistan effectively. I have shared it with the president, Omer said in a statement on Monday without giving further details.But analysts and palace insiders say a conservative circle of advisers who are growing in their influence on Karzai had made it difficult for Omer.His resignation comes months after two senior security ministers, both reputed for their effectiveness, were also forced to resign. Several other of the presidents close confidants including Ahmad Wali Karzai, his brother and linchpin to his authority in the troubled south, have been assassinated recently for which the Taliban have taken responsibility.A government official aware of the debate in the palace confirmed to Al Jazeera that rifts between Omer and a Hizb-e-Islami circle that has progressively tightened influence over president emerged months ago and it had exacerbated in the past two weeks.Hizb-e-Islami is gearing up for elections in 2013 and they want control of the government media enterprise, the official said. Omer wasnt one they could have co-opted or controlled, so their design was to gradually undermine and frustrate him.Once an influential, conservative Islamic party in the 1980s and 1990s, Hizb-e-Islamis leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar is on the wanted list of the United States and its allies for waging war and siding with the Taliban.Despite him being on the run in the past decade, his former associates have revived a wing of the party in Kabul and are becoming increasingly influential over the president, analysts say.
