Afghan cabinet delays stoke worry, frustration
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Version 0 of 1. KABUL — Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is famously impatient with delays and dallying. He runs meetings with clockwork precision, rebukes latecomers and once reportedly even locked the door on a deputy minister who showed up 10 minutes after the appointed hour. So why, frustrated and worried Afghans are asking, has Ghani yet to form a cabinet after nearly three months in office, breaking his own deadlines three times and failing to make a single permanent appointment except that of his national security adviser? This question matters for reasons far greater than the frenzy of speculation over who will get which post that is consuming Kabul’s political, intellectual and media circles. One reason is the staggering array of problems confronting Afghanistan, including terrorism, corruption, poverty and joblessness. As Western forces finalize their withdrawal and international donors consider future aid commitments, the creeping sense of paralysis and stalemate in the new government is worrying many observers. “We have people living in frozen tents and bomb blasts going off, while everyone argues over what is mine and what is yours,” analyst Farooq Bashar said. “People want to see a strong and unified government, but everything is on hold. There is no investment, and all the key positions are being held by caretakers. This cannot go on much longer. The Taliban is waiting on the corner.” Mahmad Omar, 27, a butcher, expressed disillusionment with the government and said his business in central Kabul has plummeted because customers are too afraid to shop. “We thought everything would change for the better when the new president came, but the opposite happened,” he said. “Now they tell us everything will change when the cabinet comes, but it has taken much too long. It is a terrible failure when the leaders are in conflict with themselves.” Another reason for public concern is that the lack of visible progress on high-level appointments suggests that the national unity government, a power-sharing arrangement between Ghani and top rival Abdullah Abdullah brokered by the United States after a disputed election, is not working. The forced marriage was uneasy from the start, with Abdullah demanding prime ministerial powers as chief executive and Ghani insisting on presidential primacy. It is also a foreign-engineered setup outside the Afghan constitution that is scheduled to last only two years, making it internally fragile and vulnerable to outside attack. “Things are stuck, and this raises the whole issue of whether the government is constitutional or not,” said Moeen Marastial, a politician and former campaign aide to Ghani. “There are still fundamental differences between them, but they know they have to work things out, and I am positive they will, because if they fail we will end up back in a civil war.” Ghani has said little in public about the delays, but his aides insist that things are progressing relatively rapidly, given the disarray and corruption in public agencies that his administration inherited and the complexity of forming a cabinet that balances job demands from supporters of both men with Ghani’s pledges of reform and competence. Nazifullah Salarzai, Ghani’s chief spokesman, said in an interview this week that the president is determined to build a cabinet that can “function and deliver,” instead of doling out posts as peacekeeping political spoils. He said that Ghani and Abdullah are working well together on the process and that the first group of nominees will be announced within a week or two; Abdullah made a similar statement last week. Ghani dismissed all cabinet members from his predecessor’s administration after taking office and temporarily replaced them with their deputies. Critics said this has left huge areas of government, including critical ones such as security, in a state of drift and confusion. “The caretakers have the privileges but don’t feel the responsibility,” Bashar said. Several analysts and Ghani supporters said the major stumbling block is that Abdullah has promised too many posts to powerful allies he cannot afford to ignore, especially ethnic Tajiks, who have controlled the key defense and interior ministries for years. They said Abdullah has demanded the right to choose half of all ministers, governors, ambassadors and district leaders. Confidants of Abdullah acknowledged the 50-50 demand but said Ghani is insisting on too many prerequisites for each candidate. They also noted that the president, an ethnic Pashtun, faces pressure from leaders of other ethnic groups who supported his bid, including former militia boss Abdurrashid Dostum, whom Ghani once denounced as a thug but later made his running mate to secure votes from Dostum’s ethnic Uzbek base. “Dr. Abdullah is the one being patient. He was ready with all his proposed names one month ago, but Dr. Ghani was not,” said Maulana Farid, an informal adviser to Abdullah. “We are not in the opposition anymore, and we don’t want the unity government to break,” he added, “but the president created this problem for himself, by focusing on small things instead of the broad picture. He should know this is Afghanistan, where you can never predict how slow the traffic will be.” While the high-level sniping and speculation continue, many Afghans in the capital said they are far less concerned about who wins which positions than about getting officials in place and in action. “Both Abdullah and Ghani are the same for me. We just want a government that will work for the people,” said Noor Mahmad, 62, who owns an antique jewelry shop in the city. “The poor are sad and desperate, and those with money are waiting to see what happens with the cabinet. If the government doesn’t start to work, nothing will move.” |