By Shadi Khan Saif

KABUL, Afghanistan

Afghanistan’s president on Sunday tried to head off more officials from quitting his administration amid a deteriorating security situation, an official statement confirmed.

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani directed the interior and defense ministers and the spy master to continue their duties, rejecting their letters of resignation, said a statement by the Arg presidential palace.

In a major departure, on Saturday night Mohammad Haneef Atmar, Ghani's longstanding national security adviser, resigned, citing disagreements at the top level.

An aide to Ghani for years, Atmar was considered the second-most powerful man in the country.

An Arg statement accepted the resignation and announced the appointment of Hamdullah Mohib, Afghanistan's ambassador to the U.S. as the new NSA.

Afghanistan this month witnessed a deadly surge in the insurgency with the Taliban briefly overrunning the city of Ghazni and multiple military bases and checkpoint across the country, killing scores of security personnel.