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Karzai tries to please all with new Afghan cabinet
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Karzai tries to please all with new Afghan cabinet
AFP - Sunday, December 20
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Afghan President Hamid Karzai has unveiled his choice of cabinet, reflecting a need to please all his backers from warlords to Washington and commit to clean government.
KABUL (AFP) - – Afghan President Hamid Karzai unveiled his choice of cabinet Saturday, reflecting a need to please all his backers from warlords to Washington and commit to clean government.
The names of 23 Karzai nominees for ministerial posts were presented to parliament for approval and will be debated in the coming days in a bid to end months of political paralysis following a controversial August election.
Karzai has nominated 11 current ministers to remain in their jobs, including Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar and Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, both of whom are well regarded by the international community.
Minister of parliamentary affairs, Anwar Khan Jigdalik, read out the list, each nominee striding to the front of the chamber to present himself, some waving and bowing.
Karzai's choices are seen as the first test of his commitment to building a clean and accountable government, and eradicating the corruption infesting every level of life in Afghanistan and helping to fuel a Taliban insurgency.
Presidency spokesman Waheed Omar said the list reflected "extensive consultations" and represented the president's commitment to reform.
"The president has listened to the Afghan people, to different political parties, to the international community. He has made a decision based on all those consultations," Omar told reporters.
"We had to be sure that we introduce people who will represent and who will be able to reflect our new policies, who will be able to implement the new policy, which of course on top of everything is anti-corruption."
Karzai was sworn into power for a second five-year term a month ago following a controversial election steeped in fraud, mostly in his favour.
He is under enormous pressure from the United States and NATO countries, which have 113,000 troops countering an anti-Karzai Taliban insurgency, to clean up corruption in return for continued support.
Canada was the first of the Western allies to express satisfaction with the cabinet nominees.
"Canada had called for merit-based appointments. We are pleased to see that the list of candidates includes competent individuals, some of whom we have worked with in the past," ambassador William Crosbie said.
But Afghan political analyst Waheed Mujda said the list appeared to represent a desire for continuity.
"We do not see new figures or faces in this cabinet to give us any expectation for a major change for the country's future," he told AFP.
Afghanistan's Western allies have made it clear that the billions of dollars in military and development assistance that pour into Afghanistan will depend on concrete action against corruption.
Karzai has long relied on warlords to prop up his fragile government, but aides say he has recognised the need to appease the West to stay in power and bring some momentum to the development of the poverty-stricken country.
Warlord Ismail Khan has been nominated energy minister, a powerful post seen as a reward for delivering substantial votes in the August ballot.
A list released to AFP included a second warlord, Gul Agha Shairzai, nominated for the development portfolio, but he did not appear on the list read to parliament Saturday. Omar said the nominee would be announced soon.
The most notorious warlords Abdul Rashid Dostum and Mohammad Mohaqiq -- leaders of two minority ethnic groups who supported Karzai in the election and were expected to be rewarded with high office -- have not been nominated.
A Western military source said they were likely to receive lower profile but still influential rewards for aiding Karzai's re-election.
The post of foreign minister is yet to be filled, but incumbent Dadfar Rangeen Spanta will remain in an acting capacity until after a key conference on Afghanistan's future, scheduled in London on January 28, Omar said.
The nominees represented 25 ministries -- although 23 names were presented.
Among those being retained are Public Health Minister Sayed Mohammad Amin Fatimi and Farooq Wardak, the education minister, who have also won plaudits from British, US and other officials as competent and clean technocrats.
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