Karzai nominates new ministers
Fresh list presented to Afghan parliament, a week after most nominees were rejected.
Recess cancelled
Karzai then ordered the parliament to cancel its 45-days winter recess so it could consider new nominations for cabinet posts.
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Nominees must present themselves to parliament and face questioning from legislators before separate votes are held for each candidate. That process took over a week for the original 24 nominees.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Kabul, said the list did not include any names from Karzai’s first list but some of the new nominees have been members in former governments.
“Karzai is heading calls to bring new faces into his government. He has been criticised for not including many women in his old list, now he has three [female nominees].”
Dawood Sultanzoy, one of the parliamentarians who opposed the previous list, said the new list was “a mix of qualified and not very qualified people”.
“I think the result of the vote will also be a mix of some who will get the vote of confidence and some will not, that’s my prediction,” he told Reuters news agency.
The renewed list included Zelmai Rasoul, the current head of the foreign ministry, as candidate for the post as foreign minister.
Karzai did not put forward a foreign minister candidate last week.
He has asked incumbent Rangin Dadfar Spanta to stay in the post until after the January 28 international conference in London that is to discuss the way forward for Afghanistan.