New Afghan Cabinet will be accountable: Karzai
Afghan President Hamid Karzai yesterday rejected criticism that his proposed new Cabinet amounts to business as usual and is unlikely to do much to tackle the country's array of problems.
Karzai has been under strong international pressure to clean up corruption in his government, anger over which has helped fuel the Taliban insurgency.
When Karzai's nominees for the Cabinet were presented Saturday, many legislators complained that he was keeping ministers who had performed badly and that he was appointing new faces who may be in the pocket of warlords and regional power brokers.
Karzai dismissed the criticism at a news conference with Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme.
"They will be accountable and I will be accountable for removing the problems," he said.
Karzai meanwhile defended the mayor of Kabul, who this month was sentenced to four years in prison for corruption. Karzai previously said the mayor was a scapegoat and on Sunday he said he felt responsibility to defend someone who is "clean and honest."
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