One of the most respected members of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s cabinet resigned on Tuesday, amid widespread reports of disagreements with Karzai over the appointment of factional leaders to provincial posts.
Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali announced his resignation in an interview broadcast on Afghanistan’s private Tolo television channel.
“I will not stay in the interior ministry ... one main reason is that I have asked that I would like to resume my academic and scientific research,” he said.
Jalali’s departure will be seen as a blow for U.S.-led international efforts to encourage the formation of a modern technocratic administration in Afghanistan after more 25 years of war and factional violence.
A Western-educated technocrat and a former soldier and journalist, Jalili returned to Afghanistan in 2002 after decades of exile in the United States, where he had headed the Afghan-language services of the Voice of America in Washington.
Openly critical
Officials and analysts have said he has been at odds with Karzai over the president’s
appointments to important provincial posts because of concerns that they would pursue factional interests.
Jalali has also openly complained that some government officials are involved in Afghanistan’s massive narcotics trade, which analysts describe as the biggest obstacle to the country’s long-term security.
Analysts also say he has been unhappy about a constitutional requirement barring ministers from holding dual citizenship that would oblige him to give up his American passport.
Government spokesman Karim Rahimi said he had no information about the resignation, but told a regular news conference: “Everyone has the right to resign or to work.”
Khaliq Ahmad, an official at Karzai’s presidential palace, said he had heard from local media that Jalali was planning to resign, but said he not tendered his resignation to Karzai.
Rumors swirled earlier this year that Jalali had threatened to resign but had been persuaded to stay on by Karzai.
Jalali’s move follows elections for a national assembly and provincial councils held on Sept. 18, the results of which will not be revealed until October. Some analysts had expected him to wait for the formation of the parliament before resigning.
