Afghanistan's four top security officials resign

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan’s ministers of defence and interior, as well as another security chief quit , government sources said, following the resignation of the president’s national security adviser earlier in the day. “We have received four resignations by two ministers and two senior security officials,” an official in President Ashraf Ghani’s office told Reuters. Government sources said the new resignations were from Defence Minister Tariq Shah Bahrami and Interior Minister Wais Barmak, as well as Masoom Stanekzai, the head of the National Directorate of Security. They followed a decision by National Security Advisor Hanif Atmar to quit. Officials working directly with the two ministers and Stanekzai were not immediately available to comment. But two senior interior ministry officials said the country’s top security officials cited differences with the government over policy amid the deteriorating security situation as the main reason for resigning. With parliamentary elections due on Oct. 20, authorities had been bracing for more attacks. But even so, the scale of the violence has shocked government officials, who are facing bitter criticism over their handling of the war.