by Zhang Ning, Abdul Haleem
KABUL, Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of the parliament, on Saturday in a surprise move refused 17 of the 24 ministerial nominees presented by President Hamid Karzai.
Local analysts viewed the rejection as a blow to Karzai but not as big as western media bragged about.
The law makers seemed to use their rights to say no to the president merely to show off the power of democracy, as they themselves would not be able to come up with a more reasonable list.
Karzai's chief spokesman Wahid Omar a day later on Sunday told local media that the president "was surprised by the rejection of the nominees."
While a source close to Karzai who insisted on anonymity said the president was not as astonished as some expected.
Western governments suspect that Karzai is keen to use cabinet posts as payment for those who supported him in last August presidential election, which was tarnished by frauds.
Karzai presented the list to the parliament including Ismail Khan, a notorious warlord who was accused by human rights groups of war crimes.
However, it was not that difficult for Karzai to foresee the reaction from the parliament, said the source, adding that the president just needs the parliament to play the role of bad guy to the warlord.
"The president is going to present his real list later on," said the source.
In the meantime, the parliament successfully proved to the western community that it is not a robber stamp, a victory which could also be seen as Karzai's achievement.
In talks with media, Omar, Karzai's spokesman, said, "This is the beauty of democracy. We are exercising democracy."
Surely this is so. It was a win-win situation for both Karzai and the parliament.
On the list, the three key posts of defense minister, finance minister and interior minister were passed, which will help maintain the administration in a not so effective yet relatively stable way.
The 17 undecided posts will acted by deputy ministers.
Omar, the president's spokesman, noted, "Of course it is not good in terms of the functioning of the government, but we will have to respect it."
Omar said that Karzai would soon introduce new nominees to the parliament.
The rejection of the cabinet nominees took place while the Afghan government is preparing to attend an international conference on the Afghan issue, which is slated to be held later in January in London.
Afghanistan, experts believe, would have little achievement if it attends the London conference in the absence of a functioning administration.
That is the reason why Karzai failed to nominate a candidate for the foreign minister.
Local analysts said the president likes the current Foreign Minister Rangin Spanta to stay on but fears that Spanta would not got passed over corruption rumors.
Karzai thus will keep the nomination vacant until Spanta wrap up his London tour.
Karzai, who was sworn in as president of Afghanistan for the second five-year term on Nov. 19 through the fraud-tainted August presidential election, has vowed to eliminate corruption in his next government.
However, experts are of the view that fighting corruption and bringing reforms in government departments in lack of a functioning and efficient setup is impossible.
Meanwhile, Kai Eide, the special envoy for United Nation Secretary General to Afghanistan, according to media, was surprised over the rejection of the cabinet nominees, noting that "the rejection would delay the efforts for establishing a functioning government that can focus on badly needed reform."
"It's a setback and it's a commotion," head of the world body's mission in Afghanistan said.
The parliament was supposed to go for winter vacation on Dec. 6but the leave was postponed due to delay in presenting the cabinet nominees.
Haseeb Nuri, director of the media department of the Woelsi Jirga, in talks with Xinhua confirmed that the lower house asked the president to introduce new nominees including the one for foreign minister on Saturday.
After more than 40 days since Karzai took office, the cabinet has not been formed and seems not to be formed anytime soon. But in the war-torn nation, failure of a cabinet forming would not be seen as such a big blow. Blows could be always go beyond people's imagination here.
