New Afghan Cabinet 'will be accountable'

Kabul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday rejected criticism that his proposed new Cabinet amounts to business as usual and is unlikely to do much to tackle the country's array of problems.

Karzai has been under strong international pressure to clean up corruption in his government, anger over which has helped fuel the Taliban insurgency.

When Karzai's nominees for the Cabinet were presented on Saturday, many legislators complained that he was keeping ministers who had performed badly and appointing new faces who may be in the pocket of warlords and regional power brokers.

Karzai dismissed the criticism at a news conference with Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme.

"Confidently, I say if there is any question about corruption, they will be accountable and I will be accountable as well to the Afghan nation," he said.

Karzai meanwhile defended the mayor of Kabul, who this month was sentenced to four years in prison for corruption.

Karzai previously said the mayor was a scapegoat and on Sunday he said he felt responsibility to defend someone who is "clean and honest".

Members of parliament recently pushed Deputy Attorney General Fazel Ahmad Faqiryar to disclose the names of ministers under investigation.

Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta yesterday criticised Faqiryar for allegedly saying that his ministry was being investigated in connection with the transfer of $500,000 (Dh1.8 million) to a foreign travel agency that was supposed to take Afghans to the 2007 pilgrimage to Makkah but didn't.

In a letter to Karzai, Spanta said his ministry was involved only in seeking the return of the funds. Moreover, he wrote that his ministry also was working to find $10 million that remains unaccounted for following the 2008 pilgrimage.

"Although I know that my complaints of the misuse of authority by the attorney general's office will bear no fruit, I register my profound complaint on the unethical and illegal conduct of this office and refuse to accept any apologies of the deputy attorney general..." Spanta wrote.