KABUL - The Afghan government's key defense positions may finally be filled as lawmakers agreed to vote on President Hamid Karzai's nominees this Saturday after they were introduced to Parliament.
First Vice President Mohammad Qasim presented the nominees to the parliamentarians Wednesday, urging them to approve the new candidates.
"Even though the lawmakers have full authority [to approve the nominees], considering the current security situation, I urge you to give these new faces a chance and see how they work," Fahim told the lawmakers.
The four nominees were meant to be introduced Tuesday, but the lawmakers refused to let them enter the hall as they were not accompanied by the President or one of his deputies -- as the constitution states they should be.
The Minister of Interior and Minister of Defense positions have been open since August 5 when Karzai accepted parliament's decision to dismiss the sitting ministers citing inaction on matters of security.
Three weeks later on August 29, Karzai dismissed the country's intelligence chief at the National Directorate of Security (NDS) saying his contract could not be extended past two years, according to a previous presidential decree.
Lawmakers told TOLOnews Wednesday that they will make the vote on Saturday in Afghanistan's best interest.
"I believe that the lawmakers will decide based on the national interests of Afghanistan and they will not sacrifice our national interests to the interests of our neighbors," Kabul MP Farkhunda Zahra Naderi told TOLOnews.
Daikundi MP Sadeqi Zada Nili said the delay in the appointments was concerning.
"The security situation is deteriorating. You know, that the three important security positions are being led by acting ministers," he said.
Karzai nominated last week the former Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi as the new Defense Minister, the deputy minister for the Afghan Public Protection Force Gen. Mujtaba Patang as the nominee for Interior Minister, former Kabul governor Haji Azizullzah Din Mohammad as the Minister for Border and Tribal Affairs, and the current Minister for Border and Tribal Affairs Asadullah Khalid as the new chief of the NDS. (Tolo News)