Afghan president sends lawmakers new Cabinet list after most of his first picks were rejected

Afghan president presents second Cabinet list

KABUL — A week after parliament rejected 70 percent of his Cabinet choices, the Afghan president on Saturday submitted a new slate of 16 nominees that included three women, political allies and his longtime national security adviser for the key foreign minister post.

Lawmakers indicated President Hamid Karzai faced another uphill battle in getting his second lineup approved. Critics said some nominees lacked the necessary credentials, had been picked as paybacks to supporters who helped get the president get re-elected, or were too closely aligned with warlords.

“Unfortunately this list is worse than the previous list,” said Mohammed Nahim Farahi, a member of parliament from western Afghanistan. “Unfortunately again, Karzai made another deal with his supporters. If the lawmakers in the parliament are to fulfill their commitments according to the constitution, they should not vote for such unknown people who don’t have any experience in these positions.”

Last Saturday’s no-confidence votes on 17 of the first slate of 24 nominees were a setback to the president, delaying his effort to assemble a Cabinet that can focus on badly needed reforms in his country, in its ninth year of war.

The U.S. and other countries contributing troops and aid have pushed Karzai to get his second-term administration in place ahead of a Jan. 28 international conference on Afghanistan to be held in London.

Parliament did approve his retention of U.S.-backed incumbents in the key portfolios of defense, interior, finance and agriculture in the Jan. 2 vote.

Second Vice President Karim Khalili announced the 16 ministerial candidates, including 15 to replace those initially rejected plus Karzai’s pick to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zalmay Rasoul, a longtime national security adviser.

Three women were nominated to head the ministries of public health, women’s affairs and work and social affairs. The parliament’s earlier rejection of the only woman on Karzai’s current team — Minister of Women’s Affairs Husn Bano Ghazanfar — was an awkward blow to the president, who has pledged to place more women in high government posts in the traditionally male-dominated society.

Karzai did not submit names to replace Ismail Khan, an infamous warlord who currently is the minister of water and energy and was rejected in the first vote, or a telecommunications minister. Those two nominees were to be announced later.

Some political analysts had expected Karzai to resubmit the names of rejected candidates for different positions but all the nominees announced Saturday had not been on the first list.

Wahid Mazhda, an independent political analyst in Kabul, described the new list as weak.

“Karzai just wants to have a Cabinet set up before going to the London conference,” Mazhda said. “I’m not so optimistic. I don’t think that most of these people will be able to get confident votes from the parliament.”

Safia Seddiqi, a lawmaker from eastern Afghanistan, also was skeptical. Even though Karzai submitted new names, many don’t have well-known credentials. “I don’t think they can win from the parliament,” she said.

Daoud Sultanzai, a lawmaker from the central Ghazni province, welcomed the mix of old, new, experts and non-experts on the list but said he wasn’t ready to endorse them.

“Fortunately, these people represent different parts of the country and fortunately Karzai kept the balance among different ethnic groups with this list,” Sultanzai said.

The international community hopes that a stronger government will help keep disenchanted Afghans from siding with Taliban insurgents amid warnings violence will worsen as the U.S. and other countries step up efforts in the country.

Three NATO service members have died since Friday — two in roadside bombs in southern Afghanistan and another in a vehicle accident, according to the International Security Assistance Force.

Remote-controlled bombs also struck Afghans on Saturday. One blast hit a convoy carrying a provincial council member from Wardak province, killing a bodyguard and wounding five others, Interior Ministry spokesman Zemari Bashary said. The attack occurred as the convoy was traveling west from Kabul province to Wardak.

Another explosion killed one policeman and wounded two in Kandahar, according to the ministry.

NATO also reported Saturday that Afghan border police and international forces found 18 roadside bombs, 10 mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and boxes of ammunition in caches in eastern Afghanistan.

Associated Press writers Deb Riechmann in Kabul and Noor Khan in Kandahar, Afghanistan, contributed to this report.