Afghan Cabinet nominees face confirmation vote

Afghan president Ashraf Ghani presented his new nominees for Cabinet in his national unity government today to the National Assembly, the Afghan parliament.
Ghulam Nabi Farahi, minister for parliamentary affairs, presented each candidate along with a short biography. Also facing a confirmation vote will be the nominees for intelligence chief and Central Bank director.
Missing from the proceedings was Mohammad Yaqub Haidari, the nominee for agriculture minister. After his nomination, it was revealed that Haidari may be wanted in Estonia for fraud and tax evasion. An investigation has been launched by the Afghan government regarding Haidari's case.
"I have tried my best to present a cabinet that would be acceptable to you," Ghani said during an hour-long speech before the assembly. "The authority of accepting or rejecting the Cabinet is the duty of the people's representatives."

Shukria Barekzaim, a parliamentarian from Kabul, pledged that Ghani's candidates would be closely vetted by the assembly.
"We should go and vote for qualified people who have talent, a plan and a strategy, and who want to move the country forward," she said.
Ghani announced his Cabinet nominations last week after a delay of more than three months.
Elsewhere in Afghanistan, six civilians, including a woman and a child, were killed after their minibus was hit by a roadside bomb blast in the eastern province of Ghazni, said Asadullah Ensafi, deputy police chief for the province. Two other civilians were wounded in the attack.