Karzai Is Overhauling Top Cabinet Posts, Western Officials Say
Source: NYT
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has deepened a cabinet shake-up in the most important security and intelligence ministries, with Western officials saying Wednesday that he had dismissed the country’s spy chief and was lining up replacements for that post and the vacant Defense and Interior ministries, one least one of which seemed likely to heighten tensions between the Parliament and the presidential palace.
According to two Western officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation, top aides to Mr. Karzai recently told Western officials that Mr. Karzai intends to nominate a politically influential Tajik commander, Bismillah Khan Mohammedi, to take over the Defense Ministry — a move that is likely to provoke members of the Afghan Parliament who voted just three weeks ago to dismiss Mr. Mohammedi from his post as interior minister.
The officials said that a powerful Karzai loyalist who has faced accusations of corruption and human rights abuses, Asadullah Khalid, was in line to take over the country’s main intelligence agency, and that a long-serving police official, Ghulam Mujtaba Patang, would lead the Interior Ministry.
One Western official, however, cautioned that there was still some chance that the names could be a trial balloon designed to elicit a reaction from American and NATO officials who still are in charge of providing most of the country’s security, or from Afghan lawmakers who must ratify the choices. Nothing is set in stone until Mr. Karzai makes a formal announcement, which could come as soon as Saturday, the official said. There were also signs on Wednesday that Mr. Mohammedi could face a tough vote in Parliament.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/30/world/asia/karzai-is-seen-as-poised-to-overhaul-afghan-leadership.html?pagewanted=all
