US commander visits northern city after Afghan infighting

AVA- A gun battle on Thursday pitted government forces not against the Taliban, who have increased activity there in recent months, but against supporters of ex-governor Atta Mohammad Noor, an ethnic Tajik rumoured to be one of the country’s richest men.
Army Gen. Scott Miller visited the city alongside high-ranking Afghan security officials to assure people there the situation was “under control,” said Qais Mangal, acting Defense Ministry spokesman.
The U.S.-led NATO Resolute Support mission declined to comment on the general’s trip.
The tensions began when Noor, governor for more than a decade until Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ousted him last March, voiced his opposition to Kabul’s appointment of Abdul Raqib Mobarez as provincial police chief.
“(The Afghan government) has been hatching plots against us,” Noor said on Twitter Wednesday, in a post calling for all residents in the city to stay indoors and close all shops.
A former warlord whose militia fighters make up the bulk of the provincial police force, Noor had wanted to appoint the chief himself and had claimed Ghani promised to let him.
Gunfire erupted Thursday, when Mobarez arrived in the city, surrounded by armed men, and headed toward the police headquarters. At least five civilians and two security forces members were wounded in the fighting and 25 armed men were arrested, according to Reuters.
Calling it “green on green violence,” U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan John Bass on Twitter called for both sides to resolve the fighting, saying it was taking Afghan democracy backward.
“The United States calls for calm in Mazar, #Balkh, and surrounding areas,” Bass tweeted. “Afghan security forces are tasked with protecting the #Afghan people, not fighting each other over political disputes.”