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Afghanistan : Karzai names Cabinet, sidelines warlords |
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Afghan President Hamid Karazai has managed to put together his Cabinet six weeks after his election and two weeks after his inauguration. He swore in the new Cabinet on Dec. 23, heeding calls to sideline warlords from top positions, including the Defence Minister, and creating a new post to oversee the fight against opium production.
Defence Minister Mohammed Fahim, a prominent Tajik warlord and the head of the Northern Alliance that helped the US drive the Taliban from power in 2001, has been replaced by his deputy, Abdul Rahim Wardak, according to a Presidential decree. Wardak is a Pashtun who made a name for himself as a commander in the 1980s fighting Soviet occupation, then fled abroad as the country descended into civil war.
Southern warlord Gul Agha Sherzai also has been removed from the Cabinet where he was Public Works Minister. Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank official credited with securing large commitments of foreign aid, was replaced by Central Bank Governor Anwar-ul Haq Ahadi, a long time Karzai ally. Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah and Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, both popular in the West, have been retained. However, at least one regional strongman and warlord is joining the Government. Mohammed Ismail Khan, a powerful western warlord whom Karzai removed as Governor of Herat earlier this year, has been given the position of Water and Energy Minister. The post is not considered a top-tier position, but Khan’s selection is likely to prompt criticism from the human rights group which wants the Afghan President to curb the influence of warlords and build a more professional political crisis.
Many people had expected Yunis Qanuni, Hamid Karzai’s main rival in the Presidential election, to be offered a senior role in the Cabinet. But, his omission is being interpreted by analysts as a snub to the Mujahideen, or Muslim holy warriors of the Northern Alliance who led the fight against the Soviet Union and the Taliban.
The Cabinet selection was Karzai’s first major policy decision since his inauguration as Afghanistan’s first elected President. He has pledged to bring more professionalism to his government and has embraced a constitutional decree that all Ministers be college-educated and that they give up citizenship of any other country. The selection was also seen as crucial to how this war-ravaged nation will deal with its myriad problems, including a destroyed infrastructure, a stubborn Taliban and Al-Qaeda insurgency and a booming opium trade that accounts for three quarters of the world’s market. A new counter-narcotics Ministry has been created, with relatively unknown Habibullah Qadari, chosen to run it. The position will be closely watched to see if Karzai makes good on a pledge to wipe out opium production. Karzai has recently called for a holy war against the multi-billion dollar a year drug trade and said, it is a greater threat to the nation’s future than the Taliban or Al-Qaeda.
Poppy cultivation, Indian worries:
The sharp increases in opium cultivation in Afghanistan by a whopping 60 per cent over the last one year is also giving sleepless nights to Indian drug enforcement agencies. The concern stems from the fact that most of the consignments of heroin seized in India in recent months originated in the war-ravaged Afghanistan and found their way into the country through the Indo-Pak border along Punjab. “It is an alarming situation since we think the drug peddlers mafia operating along the Afghan-Pak route may try to offload more contraband into India in the wake of a bumper harvest”, said an official of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence.
Opium production in Afghanistan was encouraged by the Taliban regime and its mentors in Pakistan’s ISI. The failure of the US to establish its grip over the entire country, with Taliban remnants continuing to call shots over vast patches, has allowed the drug syndicates to carry on with their lucrative trade. Recent reports on Afghanistan’s drug industry show that a mammoth 131,000 hectares was devoted to poppy farming.
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