Mudslinging in Afghanistan

In March, Hamid Karzai presented his choices for the Supreme Court and his cabinet to the Afghan parliament. It's the first time the nominations were to be scruntinized by the elected body. According to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting:  "[T]he ministerial nominees, in addition to defending their records and qualifications for the job, are being ...

In March, Hamid Karzai presented his choices for the Supreme Court and his cabinet to the Afghan parliament. It's the first time the nominations were to be scruntinized by the elected body. According to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting

In March, Hamid Karzai presented his choices for the Supreme Court and his cabinet to the Afghan parliament. It's the first time the nominations were to be scruntinized by the elected body. According to the Institute for War and Peace Reporting

"[T]he ministerial nominees, in addition to defending their records and qualifications for the job, are being forced to fight off accusations ranging from suggestions that they are poorly educated, insufficiently pious, or have dual citizenship, to claims that they have Jewish relatives."

What's more, Karzai dropped his previous three female ministers, failed to nominate a single woman to the Supreme Court, and nominated only one woman to his new cabinet  – for Women's Affairs. She was rejected last week by parliament, along with several other nominees, including the incumbent minister of culture, who was criticized for showing films 'offensive to Islam' on the national channels. The NYT chalks their rejections up to a "strong conservative Islamic element in the Parliament."

Carolyn O'Hara is a senior editor at Foreign Policy.

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