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Afghan President Still Looking for New Ministers after Cabinet Rejection

Ayaz Gul | Islamabad 03 January 2010

A day after Afghanistan's parliament rejected 70-percent of President Hamid Karzai's Cabinet nominees, U.N and Afghan officials have said the decision will delay efforts to create a functioning government.

U.N. Afghanistan mission chief Kai Eide has said the Afghan parliament's decision is a "political set back" that will only prolong the establishment of a functional government in Kabul.

He is reported as saying the move is a "distraction" at a time when Afghanistan and the international community are trying to focus on urgently needed reforms.

President Hamid Karzai had submitted a list of 24 Cabinet nominees to the country's parliament for approval. But the lawmaking lower house rejected 17 of his nominees.

At a news conference in Kabul, presidential spokesman Waheed Omar admitted the parliament's decision is not a very pleasant situation for Mr. Karzai.

"For the president the best scenario would have been that the members of the Cabinet that he had introduced to the parliament would get a vote of confidence and this process should go forward. There were no indications beforehand as to who will get a vote of confidence and who will not get a vote of confidence. The president was surprised, (and) he is of course not happy. But in the meantime he values the constitution, he values the authority of the parliament," Omar said.

The spokesman says the Afghan president will submit new nominations for the empty ministerial posts, but it is not clear when those names will be announced.

Mr. Karzai'z only female nominee, for the Ministry of Women's Affairs, Hassan Bano and the incumbent Energy Minister Ismail Khan are on the list the parliament rejected. Khan is a former warlord and governor of Afghanistan's Western Hirat province. Local and international human-rights groups have long accused him of serious human-rights abuses.

But Afghan lawmakers approved the incumbent ministers of defense, interior and finance. The country's ambassador to India, Sayed Makhdoom Raheen, also won parliamentary approval to be Mr. Karzai's information and cultural minister.

Since wining what many have described as a flawed presidential election in August, the Afghan president has been under pressure to ensure his new government checks rising corruption and a Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan.