President Ashraf Ghani in a decree on Sunday nominated Amrullah Saleh as Minister of Interior and Assadullah Khalid as Minister of Defense.
Saleh and Khalid have served as head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS) during former president Hamid Karzai’s government.
Saleh was appointed as state minister for security reforms last year in March. But he resigned from the post after a short time.
According to the decree, President Ghani has assigned the State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs to introduce them to the Wolesi Jirga for getting vote of confidence.
Assadullah Khalid was appointed as head of the NDS by the former president in September 2012.
He was minister of tribal and border affairs before he was appointed as head of the NDS.
Khalid was wounded in an assassination attempt in Kabul in 2012.
The appointments met with mixed reaction from Afghan critics as some of them said the decision was nothing but President’s “lobbying” for the presidential elections.
“We consider the nomination of Amrullah Saleh and Assadullah Khalid a positive step towards improvement of Afghanistan’s security. It is in the interest of Afghanistan and I am confident that the country will move towards the right direction,” said Hashem Alokozay, head of Meshrano Jirga’s defense and security commission.
“Change must happen in the leadership of ministries of defense and interior affairs. But the nomination of these two personalities in the view of elections is aimed at helping them play a better role in favor of the President,” said Mohammad Radmanish, a retired army general.
“Minister of defense, minister of interior and head of the National Directorate of Security should be professional people. They should have good recognition of who are capable of good discipline and defending the country,” said Attiqullah Amarkhail, a military affairs analyst.
“They (Khalid and Saleh) are professional, but the incumbent ministers also implemented their works in a better way. They have been facing with challenges in the view of threats we are faced from outside and because of the internal elements, but there is no doubt on their expertise and knowledge,” said Mirza Mohammad Yarmand, former deputy minister of interior.