Afghan parliament appoints nominees key security ministers

The Afghan Wolesi Jirga, or the lower house of the parliament, appointed ministers of defense and interior as well as general director of intelligence agency nominated by the President Hamid Karzai through a secret balloting held Saturday. General Basmillah Mohammadi, who formerly served as interior minister, has secured 124 votes out of 242 legislators present in the session and was appointed as the defense minister, according to the speaker of the house Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi. Ibrahimi also said that Mujtaba Patang, the minister-designate for interior ministry, and Assadullah Khalid, the nominee for the country's intelligence agency secured 129 votes and 143 votes in favor respectively. However, the house rejected the nomination of Azizullah Din Mohammad as the minister of tribal and border affairs. The lower house of parliament disqualified ministers for defense and interior on Aug. 4 in the wake of cross-border attacks in eastern provinces bordering Pakistan and failing to deal with the deteriorating security incidents across the country while president Karzai has sacked the country's intelligence chief late in August.