September 21, 2003	Sunday	Rajab 23, 1424

KABUL, Sept 20: Afghanistan announced a long-delayed reform of the powerful defence ministry on Saturday and said it would allow the start next month of an ambitious plan to disarm factional militias threatening security and elections.

The announcement came a day before the departure of President Hamid Karzai on a foreign tour taking him to the United States, Canada and Britain, on which he is expected to seek additional help to boost security ahead of general elections due next June.

The government has said the restructuring of the ethnic Tajik-dominated defence ministry was aimed at making it more ethnically representative and efficient, but the 22 appointments announced on state television fell short of sweeping change.

A decree signed by Karzai gave Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, the largest representation in the ministry, but control remained in the hands of Tajik Defence Minister Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who as expected retained his post.

Tajik Bismillah Khan was replaced as first Deputy Defence Minister by General Abdul Rahim Wardak, a US-trained ethnic Pashtun, but was moved to become chief of the army staff.

The former chief of staff, General Asif Dilawar, a Tajik like Khan affiliated with the dominant Northern Alliance faction in Karzai’s government, was given no new post. The government named four other deputy defence ministers, all of them non-Tajiks.

In statement read on state TV Karzai said the government had resolved to extend the reforms to other ministries. Explaining the plans, government spokesman Jawed Ludin said.—Reuters