Spy chief, central bank governor win trust vote

KABUL, lower house of Parliament, members.

A dozen lawmakers voted against President Hamid Karzai’s nominee for the spy chief, who appeared before the assembly for a vote of confidence. Nine ballots were invalidated. 

Nabeel promised efforts at enhancing the number and capacity of intelligence operatives, saying the battle against terrorism and corruption was among his top priorities.

He added he would make every possible effort to prevent interference from neighbouring countries’ spy agencies. “I will talk to foreign (military) leaders on a stop to irresponsible house searches.”

Nabeel said: “I will not give any chance to Parliament to disqualify me. If such an issue is raised by lawmakers, I myself will step down before they disqualify me.”

Nabil was appointed as acting NDS director-general by President Karzai on Jul. 4, 2010. Born in 1968 in Maidan Wardak province, he completed his education until grade nine at Sher Shah Suri High School in Kabul.

After migrating to Pakistan, he was enrolled in the Syed Jamaluddin High School in Peshawar. He secured the B.Sc. degree in construction engineering from a private university in 1992.

He can speak Pashto, Dari and English. He has worked as technical advisor, planning officer, head of different non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Jalalabad and Pakistan and deputy representative of the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kabul.

From 2004 to 2010, he worked as deputy head of interior affairs at the National Security Council, evaluation head and the president’s security chief.

The house also confirmed Noorullah Delawari as Da Afghanistan Bank governor by casting 173 votes for him. Thirty-four members opposed his nomination, with 22 votes declared invalid.

In his brief remarks to lawmakers, Delawari said he would try to tackle the problems facing Afghanistan’s banking system. The issues would be resolved only when banking laws were amended, he believed.

He suggested those with clear past records should be granted licences for setting up private-sector banks. Strict vigilance be kept at airports so that no one could illegally take money out of the country, said Delawari, who also has US citizenship.

Born in 1943 in Kabul, Dilawari secured the BA degree in Business Administration from the California State University in the United States. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Da Afghanistan Bank governor before being appointed as the Afghanistan Investment Support Agency (AISA) head.

He has also worked as advisor to the president on the private sector and banking development in Afghanistan.

Similarly, Abdul Munir Danish, nominated as the head of the Independent Commission of Oversight and Implementation of Constitution (ICOIC), also won the vote of confidence from the legislators. Danish bagged 155 votes, with 46 legislators opposing his nomination.

Speaking to parliamentarians, Danish said he would properly monitor the rule of law and implementation of the Constitution. He would try to mediate among the government organs on different issues in light of the Constitution.

myn/mbg/mud

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