100 days on, Afghan government yet to form cabinet

Kabul, Jan 6:

The Afghan presidential inauguration marked its first 100 days Tuesday but the government has yet to form a cabinet, although President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani vowed in his maiden speech Sep 29 to form a cabinet within 45 days.

Presidential spokesman Nazifullah Salarzai said last week that the ministers-designate would be introduced within days.

All ministries are being run by acting ministers for the past 100 days.

Hajji Mohammad Mohaqiq, the second deputy to Afghanistan government Chief Executive Abullah Abdullah, in a talk with Afghan media Monday said the cabinet would be formed within days, Xinhua reported.

Both President Ghani and Abdullah, under an agreement struck with the mediation of US Secretary of State John Kerry in August, formed a government of national unity consisting of mutual teams that competed in the April 5 presidential election.

The delay in the formation of the 25-member cabinet has caused concern among Afghans whose country has been hit by militancy and political and economic instability. IANS