Afghan President Hamid Karzai plans to keep most of his top technocrat ministers favoured by the West in a new cabinet presented to parliament on Saturday, a list the government said included efficient and effective figures. Western diplomats have generally welcomed the list of 23 cabinet nominees, which keeps the heads of the key interior and finance ministries unchanged along with other technocrats.
But some lawmakers and ordinary Afghans who were hoping for change in a government dogged by corruption said Karzai's lineup was a list of recycled names in a lacklustre, indecisive cabinet. Karzai is under intense pressure from Western leaders who have troops fighting a growing Taliban insurgency to show he is serious about clamping down on corruption. They see the cabinet as the first vital test of his commitment to fighting graft.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Anwar Jigdalak presented the list to lawmakers in Kabul, one month after Karzai's re-election was confirmed following an August 20 poll marred by fraud. With Washington sending 30,000 extra troops to Afghanistan to fight the Taliban while public support for the war wanes, US President Barack Obama is keen to show Karzai as a credible and trustworthy partner. In the first official comment from the West, Canada welcomed Karzai's proposed list, which must be approved by parliament.
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