Washington Post, 24 September 2014
Stating that “there are still questions over whether Afghanistan’s new government will remain unified, following a contentious elecion process that threatened a major political crisis”, Dan Lamothe in the Post’s Checkpoint blog on military affairs (here in the BSA context) quotes from AAN’s dispatch about the Ghani-Abdullah power sharing agreement:
“On appointments, there are apparent contradictions. The CEO’s duties include “providing advice and proposals” to the president on appointing and dismissing “senior government officials.” This sounds like the president has the last word. The document also states that the CEO is “under the authority of the President.” Apart from that one sentence, both the future president and CEO seem to be rather equal in their powers.
There appears, for example, a 50:50 ‘power sharing’ deal on some of the major posts. The agreement commits the two men to “parity in the selection of personnel between the President and the CEO at the level of head of key security and economic institutions and independent directorates”. (AAN thought this could cover the ministries of defence, interior and finance, NDS, the Independent Directorate of Local Government, but there are many others, including the Commissions overseeing the Constitution and on Anti-Corruption). As to the National Security Council, the two teams will “be equally represented… at the leadership level” (two directors, rotating, or director and deputy?) and “equitably [ie fairly and impartially, not necessarily 50:50] represented at the membership level.”
Revisions:
This article was last updated on 9 Mar 2020
