HelloAfghanistan.Com | In Afghanistan, a governor who answers to no one

The U.S. plan to invest more power in local and regional officials would favor warlords such as Gov. Atta Mohammad Noor. In his northern province, he commands great respect -- and fear.

Reporting from Mazar-I-Sharif, Afghanistan — The supplicants had come from all over the north of Afghanistan. Bowing as they made their way to the front of the ornate reception room, they bent one by one to kiss the hand of power.

Gov. Atta Mohammad Noor, the bushy beard of his days as a rough-hewn mujahedin commander long since replaced by fashionable stubble, had the satisfied look of a man receiving his due.

Atta, whom some critics call the personification of Afghanistan's deeply entrenched warlord culture, represents a quandary for the nations that supply the country with tens of thousands of troops and billions of dollars in aid.

The United States and its allies are considering ways to skirt the corruption-tainted central government and invest local and provincial officials with more authority.

But in many parts of the country, such a strategy would augment the influence of other warlords such as Atta, many of whom carved out personal fiefdoms while rising to prominence in the long battle against the Soviet Union, the country's bloody civil war, and the push to topple the Taliban.

Among his constituents in Balkh province, Atta commands equal measures of fear and respect. People tend to glance around surreptitiously when asked about him; when they speak, it is in lowered tones, often referring to him as ustad -- teacher, or master.

Technically, Atta serves at the pleasure of President Hamid Karzai, who, as he embarks on a second term in office, is in the process of deciding which of the country's 34 governors will keep their jobs.

But few here believe that the beleaguered Afghan leader, although under international and domestic pressure to sever ties with warlords, would dare to move against Atta.

"It is I who will decide whether to stay on or not," the governor said, a faint smile playing across his face. "In the past, this government was already weak. It is even weaker now."

Over the summer, Atta openly defied Karzai by coming out in favor of his main rival for the presidency, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, a fellow ethnic Tajik and onetime comrade-in-arms in the Northern Alliance.

Even now, three months after Karzai was declared the winner of the clouded balloting, giant billboards of Atta and Abdullah still loom over the main thoroughfares of Mazar-i-Sharif, the provincial capital.

It is in the streets of Mazar, named for the sprawling blue-tiled shrine at its heart, that Atta's power is most acutely felt. Much of the city's prime real estate is in the hands of companies he owns or controls.

But it is also evident that his iron-fisted rule has brought certain benefits. The province is one of the most well-off and orderly in all Afghanistan, and it is nearly Taliban-free, with poppy cultivation all but quashed in recent years. Mazar is probably the safest of the country's large cities, only rarely hit by suicide bombings or even street crime.

As for Karzai, his ability to distance himself from warlord figures such as Atta is still very much in question. He chose two -- Mohammed Fahim and Karim Khalili -- as his vice presidents, who will serve for five years.

Atta, who is thought to be in his 40s, will probably be a long-term complicating factor on his home turf whether or not he remains governor. His power base, said analyst Nasim Bahman of Maulana University in Mazar, includes "people who can destabilize things in an organized manner, if they choose."