Karzai to Announce New Afghan Cabinet

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan – President Hamid Karzai (search) has completed selections for a new Cabinet, heeding a call to remove warlords from key positions and streamline the body, while retaining two of the most recognizable faces in Afghanistan's road to rehabilitation, three government officials said Thursday.

The Cabinet was expected to be officially announced later in the day.

Defense Minister Mohammed Fahim (search), a prominent Tajik warlord and the head of the northern alliance that helped the United States drive the Taliban from power in 2001, will be replaced by his deputy, Abdul Rahim Wardak (search), the officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Wardak is a Pashtun who made a name for himself as a commander in the 1980s fighting Soviet occupation, then fled abroad as the country descended into civil war.

Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani (search), a former World Bank official credited with securing large commitments of foreign aid, will be replaced by Central Bank Governor Anwar ul-Haq Ahadi (search), a longtime Karzai ally. Ghani was likely to take over as chief of Kabul University, according to the officials.

Foreign Minister Abdullah and Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali (search), both popular in the West, were kept on despite the reshuffle.

The selections are seen as key to how this war-ravaged nation will deal with a myriad of problems, including a destroyed infrastructure, a stubborn Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgency and a booming opium trade that accounts for three-quarters of the world's market.

Karzai has pledged to honor a constitutional requirement that all Cabinet members have at least an undergraduate degree, and that they renounce their citizenship in any other countries.

Jalali, a longtime exile in Washington, will have to turn in his U.S. passport to remain in the Cabinet.

Abdullah, an ethnic-Tajik who was the spokesperson for legendary northern alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massood, was kept on despite his decision to back Yunus Qanooni, Karzai's main rival in October elections. Like many Afghans, he uses only one name.