KABUL (SW) – Abdullah Abdullah, chairman High Council for National Reconciliation, has opposed the sacking of former interior minister Massoud Andarabi.
In a statement, he said the ouster was ‘hasty’ and against the political agreement he inked with President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani last year.
He said the decision was taken “without consultation, without justifiable reason, in a hurry and in opposition to the political agreement between the two sides”.
Abdullah Abdullah called President Ghani’s decision in such circumstances contrary to the national interests of the country and unacceptable.
On Friday, as per presidential decrees, Hayatullah Hayat was named as proposed interior minister while Yaseen Zia as proposed defense minister. The National Security Council announced that former Kandahar Governor Hayatullah Hayat has been appointed as acting Minister of Interior and Ayub Salangi, former Deputy Minister of Independent Directorate of Local Governance, has been appointed as Deputy Minister of Interior based on separate decrees.
A statement issued by the National Security Council stated that these appointments are aimed at making the necessary reforms in the leadership of the security sector, improving the security situation, and protecting the lives and property of the people.
The statement added that the new leadership of the Ministry of Interior will, as a first step, take urgent measures to improve the security situation, enforce the law and fight crime.
On the other hand, in another decree, the President has appointed Mohammad Yasin Zia as the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Defense. According to a National Security Council newsletter, President Ghani has tasked Zia to take charge of the defense ministry until Minister of Defense Asadullah Khalid gets well and returns to the country
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