Afghan president keeps FM in position despite non-confidence vote

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta would "continue his duties in a normal way," although he lost a non-confidence vote in parliament, President Hamid Karzai said in a statement issued late Saturday.

The statement, which was released by the Presidential Palace, indicated that Karzai and the parliament had different interpretation of the Constitution articles concerning non- confidence votes on ministers.

Earlier Saturday, Spanta lost a non-confidence vote in the Lower House of parliament amid an Afghan refugee crisis, as 141 lawmakers voted against him, 73 in his favor and three abstained.

Originally, it was widely interpreted by lawmakers and the media that Spanta was sacked effectively due to his loss in the vote and President Karzai had to nominate a new foreign minister.

However, the latest statement said, Karzai is seeking interpretation and clarification from the Supreme Court in regard to the non-confidence vote to Spanta.

"Can the non-confidence vote to (the) foreign minister be justified on an issue that has no direct linkage with his work? Does the Constitution provide anything explicit on this matter?" the statement said.

President Karzai would take a decision in regard to Foreign Minister only after the decision is received from the Supreme Court, which is the authorized institution to interpret the Constitution, it added.

"Consequently, until the decision is made by the Supreme Court, Foreign Minister will continue his duties in a normal way," the statement said.

The Lower House also voted against Refugees Affairs Minister Ustad Akbar Akbar on Thursday.

The statement said: "President Karzai respects the decision of the Lower House in regard to the non-confidence vote to the refugee minister, considering the direct linkage of his ministry's work to the issue."

It was reported that the two ministers lost the non-confidence votes as the lawmakers were unsatisfied with their performance during a recent Afghan refugee crisis.

Iran says it wants to expel the 1 million illegal Afghan refugees out of its soil. Over 50,000 Afghans were forced out over the past three weeks, according to UN statistics.

Afghan lawmakers say the refugee minister did not do enough to accommodate the expelled refugees, while the foreign minister failed to persuade Iran into loosing its repatriation policy.

Iran, which neighbors Afghanistan to the west, also houses nearly 1 million registered Afghan refugees.

Source: Xinhua