KABUL: President Hamid Karzai proposed new names on Saturday to replace an Afghan Cabinet lineup rejected by Parliament, omitting controversial ex-guerrilla commanders and their allies but still disappointing diplomats and lawmakers.
The absence of powerful figures such as former commando chief Ismail Khan and the allies of Uzbek militia boss Abdul Rashid Dostum was described as a positive sign by those who want to curb the influence of ex-warlords.
Western governments see improving the Cabinet as a vital step to bolstering Afghanistan so they can eventually begin withdrawing troops. But the overall reaction to the new list, mainly composed of little-known figures with some former ministers long out of favor, was guarded at best.
“It looks like Karzai has picked them up from the street,” MP Sayed Dawood Hashimi said, predicting that only four or five would be approved.
“One could hardly describe the new list as an improvement over the last list,” said an international diplomat who asked not to be named while giving a frank assessment of the lineup.
“Many of them are completely unknown. Some of them are known politicians who were removed in the past for corruption.”
Parliament rejected 17 of his 24 Cabinet nominees last week in an unprecedented snub, with lawmakers saying many lacked qualifications or were beholden to the powerful armed factions that ran the country for decades.
No vetoed candidate was offered a new post, although the palace earlier had said some might be. Two spots still vacant also were likely to go to new faces, Karzai’s spokesman said.
Saturday’s new list was notable for the exclusion of Khan and the allies of Dostum, both of whom campaigned for Karzai at the last minute, winning him votes among their followers but alarming those who want the influence of former warlords reduced.
“Karzai deceived us,” said Alem Sahi, an MP from Dostum’s Junbesh party which saw three of its members bumped from Karzai’s previous list. “We collected 700,000 votes for him and in return he promised us several cabinet posts.”
Parliament’s veto last week of Khan, a powerful regional boss who served as the outgoing water minister, was seen as the clearest sign lawmakers aimed to curb the former commanders of armed factions that dominated the country for decades.
