Power Is Reshuffled in Afghan Province

The powerful governor of this southern Afghan province relinquished power Saturday as part of the moves by President Hamid Karzai to rein in regional warlords and assert more control in the provinces.

Gul Agha Sherzai handed power to Yusuf Pashtun in a quiet ceremony at the sprawling governor’s residence. Sherzai will become a federal minister of urban affairs, trading places with Pashtun.

“Afghanistan is a democratic country,” Sherzai said at the ceremony held here -- the spiritual headquarters of the former Taliban regime. “President Hamid Karzai has authority to change or dismiss anyone in Afghanistan.”

In the 18 months since the Taliban regime’s fall, Karzai has come under increasing criticism from the international community for failing to assert his authority outside Kabul, the capital. Warlords around the country have their own armies and a great deal of power.

Sherzai’s peaceful surrender of power contrasts with his arrival in Kandahar in December 2001. Then, Sherzai, who had opposed the Taliban, surged into Kandahar with his private army and took control of government offices despite a promise by Karzai to give the job of governor to another commander.

On Thursday, Karzai took the job of military commander of western Afghanistan away from another warlord, Ismail Khan, who is also governor of the western province of Herat. The rights group Human Rights Watch has accused Khan of a repressive rule and attacks on intellectuals, dissidents and women.

The peaceful transition shows the government’s growing legitimacy, Karzai spokesman Jawid Luddin said.