Afghan intelligence director quits amid rising civilian deaths

The head of Afghanistan's intelligence service has stepped down following a deadly operation by government forces that left four brothers dead in eastern Afghanistan.

According to Press TV, Mohammad Masoom Stanekzai, who had served as head of Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security (NDS) intelligence agency since June 2016, tendered his resignation on Thursday.

The incident that prompted Stanekzai's resignation occurred late Wednesday in Jalalabad city in Eastern Nangarhar Province. 

According to Nangarhar Governor's Spokesman Attaullah Khogyani, four brothers were killed in the raid.

The NDS had initially claimed four members of the Daesh terrorist group were killed in the incident, but authorities later backtracked.

Reacting to the incident, dozens of demonstrators took to the streets in Jalalabad on Thursday to protest the killings.

Meanwhile, President Ashraf Ghani said that he had "regretfully" accepted the security chief's resignation.

"As a responsible state we have zero tolerance for civilian casualties," Ghani said on Twitter. "I have regretfully accepted the resignation of NDS Chief, Mr. Stanikzai who had had success in other areas of his work."

Ghani went on to say that he had ordered the attorney general to investigate the raid "and to bring the perpetrators to justice."

The president also stated that he had an emergency meeting with security chiefs as well as the chief justice and the attorney general.

“The tragic incident in Jalalabad occurred despite previous assurances and changes in guidelines vis-a-vis security and search operations,” he said.

The president had faced growing criticism and scrutiny in recent weeks for retaining Stanekzai even as bombings and deadly attacks increased in Kabul and across Afghanistan.

Afghan security forces have faced frequent criticism for their tactic of conducting night time raids targeting houses where suspects are supposedly hiding out. But time and again, civilian residents have been killed for no reason in the operations.

Nearly 4,000 civilians have been killed in Afghanistan in the first half of this year with a 27 percent increase in war-related civilian deaths in the second quarter. 

ME