A Buoyant Karzai Is Sworn In as Afghanistan's Leader (original) (raw)
World|A Buoyant Karzai Is Sworn In as Afghanistan's Leader
https://www.nytimes.com/2002/06/20/world/a-buoyant-karzai-is-sworn-in-as-afghanistan-s-leader.html
Advertisement
You have a preview view of this article while we are checking your access. When we have confirmed access, the full article content will load.
- June 20, 2002
See the article in its original context from
June 20, 2002
,
Section A, Page
TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers.
Afghanistan's new president, Hamid Karzai, was in an ebullient mood this evening after being sworn in as president for the next two years. Just minutes before, the grand council had approved his new cabinet and the appointment of several vice presidents.
Mr. Karzai had tried to appoint a balanced cabinet to ease ethnic divisions in the country and to weaken the power of the warlords by drawing them away from their power bases to the capital, but his first steps appeared tentative.
The day had been exhausting and difficult, he said in an interview afterward in the gardens of Kabul's old royal palace, adding, ''I never want to have to pick a cabinet again.''
But Mr. Karzai said he hoped his new legitimacy would strengthen his hand in securing peace for Afghanistan and winning the country much-needed international aid.
Mr. Karzai's main difficulty was finding a balance in the cabinet that would satisfy the country's powerful factions and ethnic groups and ease the tensions that have brought them to war in the past. He was under pressure to reduce the power of Tajiks, who dominated the interim cabinet, holding the powerful defense, foreign and interior ministries. Pashtuns, the largest ethnic group in Afghanistan, in particular have demanded more representation in the government.
Mr. Karzai opted for a halfway step, retaining the defense minister, Marshal Muhammad Qasim Fahim, but appointing a Pashtun, Taj Muhammed Wardak, an elderly former governor, as interior minister. Delegates approved his cabinet, but few saw Mr. Wardak as a serious counterweight for Marshal Fahim.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.
Thank you for your patience while we verify access.
Already a subscriber? Log in.
Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
Advertisement