The second Karzai cabinet was the cabinet of Afghanistan that led the government from the re-election of president Hamid Karzai in 2009 until the end of his term in 2014. The cabinet consisted of the president, his two vice-presidents, 18 ministers who received approval from the Afghan Parliament, and 7 acting ministers who have not been approved.
First list of candidates
Under the Afghan constitution the president nominates the ministers, but the Lower House of Parliament needs to approve them. After the fraud-plagued re-election of Karzai in the fall of 2009 and after reports about widespread corruption in the highest circles of the government, Karzai desperately needed to restore his legitimacy at home and abroad. During his inauguration speech, Karzai pledged to "end the culture of impunity and violation of law and bring to justice those involved in spreading corruption and abuse" and make it "obligatory for senior government officials to identify the sources of their assets and to declare their properties in a transparent manner"."Karzai inaugurated – but where were the crowds? – Rejoicing is in short supply in the Afghan capital as the President's second term begins" Western officials publicly said his lineup of minister candidates would be a first vital test to show whether he was serious about combating corruption, which undermined his government's credibility and fed the Taliban insurgency."Karzai Delays New Afghan Cabinet Announcement"
So Karzai was under pressure to exclude ineffective or corrupt officials, but at the same time powerful Afghans who helped deliver his re-election were promised or demanding positions, including the Uzbek warlord, Abdul Rashid Dostum."Karzai set to sacrifice lambs, not wolves – Foreign and defence ministers expected to go as embattled President hangs on to crucial power-brokers"
Renaming incumbent ministers On 19 December 2009 Karzai presented his list of 25 proposed cabinet members. There was no candidate named for the position of Foreign Minister, since Karzai wanted to keep to disputed foreign minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta until the International Conference on Afghanistan in London on 28 January 2010. Furthermore, Karzai retained the heads of high-profile ministries of Defense and Interior, who were regarded in Washington as experienced professionals. The finance, justice, education, water and energy, women's affairs, agriculture, counter-narcotics and telecommunication ministers were renamed. The most important portfolios were given a U.S. approval by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, when she attended Karzai's inauguration in November 2009.
Influence of power-brokers Although only one warlord, Ismail Khan, was offered a cabinet position, the list proposed by Karzai mirrored the fact that he had to give in to demands of the main power-brokers that had helped him secure his re-election. The newly appointed minister of Haj, Enayatullah Baleegh, is a senior member of the Ettehad-e Islami of Abdul Rasul Sayyaf; the proposed minister of Public Welfare, Mirza Husain Abdullahi, is an ally of Mohammad Mohaqeq, as is the candidate for the ministry of commerce, Ghulam Mohamad Eylaghi. Vice-president Mohammad Fahim has two loyals on the list with the nomination of Wais Barmak and Enayatullah Nazari, as has vice-president Karim Khalili with the renomination of Sarwar Danish and General Khodaidad. Pir Seyyed Gailani is represented by the nomination of his son, Seyyed Hamed Gailani, as Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs. Seyyed Mohammad Amin Fatemi, the incumbent minister for public health, is affiliated with the Nejat-e Melli of Sibghatullah Mojaddedi. Finally, the Jombesh-e Melli, of strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum has two high-ranking members on the list with the deputy head of the party, Mohammad Ismail Munshi, named as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs and Dr. Mohammadullah Batash, a former Secretary of the Jombesh General Council as Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation.Afghanistan analyst Network: The Cabinet list
Dual citizenship Shortly before Karzai presented his list of nominees, the Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House of the Afghan Parliament, after three days of debating, decided against giving trust vote to ministers with dual citizenship. However, Karzai's appointee for Minister of Finance, Dr. Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal, also holds the Canadian citizenship. In the end the parliament dropped the issue and voted upon Zakhilwal's candidacy.
Controversy and new ministries By presenting his list of candidates, Karzai asked the parliament to create a new Ministry for Martyred and Disabled Affairs, for which he named Taj Ali Saber, a member of the Khost Provincial council, as minister. The Parliament however didn't agree and voted only upon the candidacy of Munshi as minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Disabled.
Karzai received harsh criticism for only including one woman, Husna Banu Ghazanfar, in his team. Furthermore, the incumbent minister of Women's Affairs was considered weak. So on 23 December, at a news conference with the Belgian prime minister Leterme, he announced that he planned to create from part of the ministry of education a "ministry to fight illiteracy", and that he intended to nominate a woman to head it. Female politicians would also be appointed to preside several independent commissions and deputy minister's posts.
The same day Karzai changed the candidacy of Gul Agha Sherzai, initially mentioned as Minister of Reconstruction, into the candidacy of incumbent minister Yusuf Pashtun. Wazhma Zurmati was named as Minister of Illiteracy, but just like the new ministry of the Martyrs and Disabled, the parliament didn't agree with its creation and didn't vote upon her candidacy. The parliament also didn't vote upon the candidacy of Anwar Jegdelek, a former mayor of Kabul, as minister of Parliamentary affairs. Since this ministry is designed to merely coordinate the relations of Parliament with the other pillars of the State, this is not a position that requires parliamentary approval.
Voting on the first list of candidates
The Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of the Afghan parliament voted on the list on 2 January. Since the session was attended by 232 of the 249 Parliamentary members, 117 votes (50%+1) were necessary for acceptance. But a crisis emerged, when the count of the votes made clear that the parliament had rejected two-thirds of the nominated persons. Of the 24 nominees, only seven were accepted. The rules of the wolesi jirga prevented nominees from being put forward again and since the parliament was scheduled to begin a 45-day winter vacation 3 days later, it seemed that Karzai would have to go into the international conference of Afghanistan with a largely incomplete cabinet. But On 4 January, Karzai requested the parliament to delay its winter recess, so members could consider a new list of nominees."The country president within a decree, requests Wolesi Jirga to avoid of their winter vacation till introduction and voting to the rest of Gov nominees" The parliament decided to take a short break of three days and demanded Karzai to come up with a list of names, including a candidate for the post of Foreign Affairs."Wolesi Jirga will continuous its work after three days vacation"
Accepted candidates Of the seven candidates that were approved by the parliament, five were incumbent ministers who had been nominated for the same post. The other two approved ministers, Wahidullah Shahrani and Sayed Makhdum Raheen, were respectively an incumbent minister on another post and a former minister. Seven other incumbent ministers were rejected, most notable the only woman on the list, Hosn Banu Ghazanfar, and the powerful warlord Ismail Khan.
Ministry Name candidate Previous Function Approved/Rejected Afghan Bios: Cabinet list n. 1 Aye Nay Abstain Invalid Foreign Minister not named Defense Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak Defence Minister approved 124 100 8 Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar Interior Minister approved 147 77 8 Finance Minister Hazrat Omar Zakhilwal Finance Minister approved 141 84 6 Economic Minister Anwarul Haq Ahadi Presidential Candidate rejected 91 103 7 3 Justice Minister Mohammad Sarwar Danish Justice Minister rejected Information and Cultural Affairs Minister Dr. Sayed Makhdoom Raheen Ambassador to Idia approved 120 93 14 4 Education Minister Ghulam Farooq Wardak Education Minister approved 155 73 3 Higher Education Minister Dr. Obaidullah Obaid dean of Kabul Medical University rejected 94 121 12 5 Trade and Commerce Minister Ghulam Muhammad Eeilaqi Acting Director of the Chambre of Commerce rejected 76 138 13 4 Water and Energy Minister Ismail Khan Water and Energy Minister rejected 111 109 5 5 Transportation and Aviation Minister Mohammadullah Batash Adviser to the Independent Directorate of Local Governance rejected 82 138 10 3 Women's Affairs Minister Hosn Bano Ghazanfar Women's Affairs Minister rejected 115 108 8 1 Haj and Islamic Affairs Minister Enayatullah Baligh lecturer Sharia Law at Kabul University rejected 108 115 6 2 Public Welfare Minister Mirza Hussain Abullahi Director of Civil Service Reform in the Civil Service Commission rejected 33 179 17 2 Public Health Minister Syed Mohammad Amin Fatimi Minister of Public Health rejected 102 120 5 3 Agriculture Minister Mohammad Asif Rahimi Agriculture Minister approved 136 89 3 2 Mines Minister Wahidullah Shahrani Commerce minister approved 140 78 13 1 Telecommunications Minister Amirzai Sangin Telecommunications minister rejected 92 130 8 1 Rural Rehabilitation and Development Minister Eng. Owais Ahmad Barmak Deputy Minister of Rural Rehabilitation and Development rejected 90 127 4 9 Labour and Social Affairs Minister Mohammad Ismail Monshi Adviser to the Independent Directorate of Local Governance rejected 39 176 14 2 Border Affairs and Tribal Affairs Minister Sayed Hamed Gilani Deputy Speaker of the Meshrano Jirga rejected 70 149 11 2 Reconstruction Minister Engineer Mohammad Yousuf Pashtun Urban Reconstruction Minister rejected 88 127 15 1 Counter Narcotics Minister General Khodaidad Counter-Narcotics Minister rejected 36 176 17 3 Refugees and Returnees Minister Enayatullah Nazari Former Minister of Refugees rejected 82 133 11 3 Martyrs and Disabled Minister Taj Ali Saber Lecturer at Khost University not voted upon Literacy Minister Wazhma Zurmati not voted upon Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Anwar Jegdelek Head of the National Olympic Committee does not need the vote of confidence
Second list of Candidates After only seven candidates from the first list were formally named minister, on 9 January 2010, Second Vice-president Karim Khalili read out a second list of 16 nominees to the parliament. None of the rejected ministers were on this list.BBC: Karzai names new ministers for Afghanistan cabinet This time, a candidate for the foreign ministry had been named, by putting forward the candidacy of Zalmai Rassoul, then the head of the national security agency. However, two other posts - that of the minister for communications and for water and energy - were left vacant. For those two postings the incumbent ministers, Amirzai Sangeen and Ismail Khan, had been rejected in the first round of voting.
Candidates Since no women had been approved in the first round and Karzai had faced criticism for not including enough women in his team, this second list contained the names of three female candidates: Amina Afzali for Social Affairs, Suraya Dalil for Public Health and Palwasha Hassan for Women's Affairs.
Zaraar Ahmad Moqbel was named as anti-narcotics minister. He had been Afghanistan's interior minister in 2008 and early 2009 but was removed from that post by Karzai under pressure from the UN special representative in Afghanistan, Kai Eide.Radio Free Europe: More Than Half Of Karzai's Cabinet Now Approved