A senior Afghan general has been arrested on charges of corruption and misuse of power, a government spokesman said.

Major General Mohammad Moeen Faqir was arrested by the Attorney Generals' Anticorruption Justice Center, defense ministry spokesman Dawlat Waziri said in a statement on March 27. He did not provide further details.

The government deployed Faqir to crack down on corruption in the restive province of Helmand, in southern Afghanistan, in 2016.

Faqir took command of the Afghan Army's 215th Corps after the former commander there was accused of making payments to non-existent "ghost soldiers."

At the time, a U.S. military spokesman said the Pentagon was "very, very impressed" with Faqir, saying "he is personally invested in turning around the 215th Corps."

In October, Faqir himself was replaced with no official explanation.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has promised to stamp out corruption in the government and the security services.

The Anticorruption Justice Center is among several new government taskforces to be established to target high-level officials accused of corruption.

Faqir's arrest came on the same day the Afghan defence and interior ministers and the head of the country's intelligence service survived a vote of confidence over the failure to tackle mounting insecurity and the Taliban insurgency.

Based on reporting by Reuters and Tolo News