Afghan parliament sacks interior minister over security issues

Source: Reuters

By Rob Taylor and Mirwais Harooni
KABUL | Mon Jul 22, 2013 8:08am EDT

(Reuters) - Afghanistan's parliament voted on Monday to dismiss one of the country's top security chiefs by impeaching the interior minister in a potential blow to stability as NATO-led international forces speed their withdrawal from the country.

Fractious lawmakers said Ghulam Mujtaba Patang, head of a 157,000-strong police force for less than a year, had been unable to tackle a worsening security environment, which included insurgent attacks on the major highway from the capital Kabul to the southern city of Kandahar.

"I ask the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan to announce another person for this position," said speaker of parliament Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi after the ballot, in which Patang secured just 60 votes, against the 136 cast against him.

President Hamid Karzai said he had not yet decided whether to accept the vote, as his administration tries to shore up stability ahead of presidential elections and a pullout of NATO troops, both due next year.

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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/22/us-afghanistan-minister-idUSBRE96L0D720130722