Afghan Fires His Cabinet; Police Chief Offers to Quit

KABUL, Afghanistan — Unable to form a new government, the new president of Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, settled for the next best thing on Sunday: He fired the old one.

As Mr. Ghani dismissed most of the ministers, another important Afghan official was on the verge of being ousted. The Kabul police chief offered his resignation amid an escalating pattern of Taliban suicide attacks in the capital.

Afghanistan’s recently inaugurated leaders — a president, a chief executive, and two vice presidents — have struggled to make basic decisions as the security situation has deteriorated here. The underlying problem, which various factions in the government point to, is the power-sharing agreement that followed this year’s disputed presidential election. It makes Mr. Ghani president and his election rival, Abdullah Abdullah, the chief executive.

Since the deal was struck in September, Mr. Ghani and Mr. Abdullah have been unable to agree on a new cabinet, leaving the government in the lurchand raising questions about the long-term chances of the power-sharing deal.

Lately, optimistic reports in the local news media have suggested that the two sides were close to a breakthrough in selecting a new cabinet. That optimism was dispelled Sunday night, when Mr. Ghani said in a televised address that the selection of a new cabinet was still a number of weeks away.

In the meantime, he said, he was dismissing most of the current ministers, all holdovers from the previous administration. Their deputy ministers would take charge, pending new appointments, he said.  Read More at NYTimes