Afghan interior minister to resign

One of the most prominent faces in Afghan president Hamid Karzai’s Cabinet, Ahmad Ali Jalali, who had struggled to shake-up the Interior Ministry and combat Afghanistan’s booming drugs trade, announced his resignation today.

Karzai’s office played down the significance of Jalali’s decision to quit, ostensibly to pursue an academic career in the US. The president’s chief of staff, Jawed Ludin, denied Jalali had disagreements with Karzai on fighting drugs.