Karzai to Fire His Cabinet?Karzai to Fire His Cabinet? | The Washington Independent
That’s what The Globe and Mail reports:
“„A thorough house-cleaning would temporarily placate Western diplomats, who have been threatening to revoke aid dollars unless Mr. Karzai roots out government graft following his controversial victory in the disputed presidential election.
“„The risk in such a move is that Mr. Karzai could alienate the cadre of alleged warlords and drug kingpins in his cabinet who wield considerable influence above and beyond their portfolios. If scorned, they could pose a threat to democracy’s unsteady foothold in the country.
“„“That is the great fear among the people,” said Khalid Pushton, an MP with ties to Mr. Karzai. “But that fear is outweighed by the hope that he doesn’t pick the warlords and drug lords again.”
I ran this by someone who studies this stuff closely, and that person considered the report credible. I’ll believe it when I see the resignations, and will evaluate it when we determine that institutional changes, and not merely personnel changes, have occurred. Karzai attempted to steal an election and, circuitously, ended up getting away with it. That should be all the evidence we need to determine his intentions on the corruption front. But different ministers do stand a chance of hiring more-dedicated civil servants. I want to neither overestimate nor underestimate the impact of this move, but will simply wait to see what unfolds.
