Karzai Cabinet to include old figures and technocrats

Kabul: Technocrats and some existing ministers will be included among Afghan President Hamid Karzai's new government within the next three weeks, a spokesman said yesterday, despite pressure from the West for wholesale reform.

Karzai, re-elected after a needless presidential run-off vote was abandoned on Monday, has received stern warnings from US President Barack Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and others in the West that he must work harder to root out corruption that tainted his previous administration.

The run-off, triggered after widespread fraud marred the first round in August, was cancelled after Karzai's only rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew citing serious concerns about the vote.

Abdullah said yesterday Afghanistan deserved a better administration than any which Karzai was able to offer but urged his supporters to remain peaceful.

"My expectation from the people is to use constraint and behave on the basis of the rule of law and not resort to any illegal action for the fulfilment of their goals," Abdullah told a news conference at his Kabul home.

Legitimacy

The flawed electoral process has left Washington and Afghanistan's other Western supporters to work with a partner whose legitimacy has been questioned, while Karzai himself faces an invigorated opposition under Abdullah.

Monday's decision came after weeks of political uncertainty, while Obama also weighs whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to fight a resurgent Taliban, who had threatened to disrupt the poll and branded Karzai's return as a farce.

An Afghan policeman shot dead five British soldiers at a checkpoint in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday, underlining security concerns and certain to fuel debate in Britain about its presence in the country.

"The government the president has in mind is one that will have special places for experts, educated and professional people," Karzai spokesman Siyamak Herawi said.

"It [next cabinet] will have new figures and some of the old ministers who have done well," he said.

Arrests demanded

The United States wants Afghan President Hamid Karzai to arrest and prosecute corrupt government officials among other concrete measures to shore up his legitimacy, a top US military official said yesterday, suggesting such steps were key to a troop increase.

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said Washington was "extremely concerned" about current levels of corruption in Afghanistan. The re-elected president's legitimacy among the Afghan people was "at best, in question right now and, at worst, doesn't exist." A legitimate government in Kabul, he said, was critical to a counterinsurgency strategy.