Finance Minister Eklil Ahmad Hakimi on Monday attended the council of ministers meeting for the first time in seven months.  

This comes after CEO Abdullah Abdullah recently raised the issue of ministers not attending the meetings – which are usually held every two weeks. 

According to the CEO, the absence of cabinet ministers affects routine work within government.  

At Monday’s session, Abdullah discussed the issue of corruption within the payroll process involving security forces, especially within the ministry of interior. 

He reiterated the fact that ongoing corruption within government has sparked major concerns among Afghanistan’s international donors. 

“In our discussions with our international partners, they raised questions about the nature of payment of the salaries,” said Abdullah. 

Abdullah also strongly criticized government officials who ignore his requests and only follow the orders of the president. 

The CEO went on to discuss issues raised at Sunday’s 20th meeting of the Joint Coordination and Monitoring Board (JCMB) in Kabul and said the summit had been successful. 

“It was a successful meeting, I offer my congratulations to the minister of finance, his colleagues and UN secretary general’s special envoy who worked hard for the coordination of the meeting, but follow up of the meetings are a joint responsibility,” added Abdullah. 

JCMB was established in accordance with an agreement between the Afghan government and the international community for overall strategic coordination on the implementation of the Afghanistan Compact endorsed at the London Conference in 2006.  

JCMB provides a platform for strategic coordination, joint policy formulation and problem solving in Afghanistan. 

It ensures the mutual accountability of the government and its development partners and is co-chaired by the Head of the Government Coordinating Committee (GCC) from the Afghan government and the Special Representative of the Secretary General (SRSG) in UNAMA.