In Afghanistan, the removal of a top army doctor is turning into a controversy with the defence ministry accusing him of negligence while the doctor denying any wrongdoing on his part. Afghan Defense Minister General Abdul Rahim Wardak said that Surgeon General Ahmad Zia Yaftali has been removed from his post as part of inquiry into alleged disappearance of medicines supplied by US. He said Yaftali was under a ministry investigation on a broader accusation of embezzling funds or medicines meant for soldiers. The surgeon General, however, rejected any accusation and alleged that his removal was a plot on part of the ministry. He asserted that medicines have disappeared even before reaching his department and that he had intimated US advisors of availability of such medicines in the open market. The doctor suggested contractors providing the supplies could be to blame, along with U.S. advisers who help make the contracts. A U.S. military official said that American-supplied medicines, along with additional donated funds, should have been enough for the entire Afghan army. However, Afghan army units around the country complain of shortages of medicines. US government has been pressing its Afghan counterpart of rooting out corruption while the latter says western contracts are fueling corruption in the war-torn country.