Afghanistan: Government Reshuffle Continues in Kabul

President Hamid Karzai is pressing ahead with a government reshuffle in Afghanistan as part of an overall effort to bolster his administration's image. The latest casualty in Kabul is Transportation Minister Hamidullah Qadri. The governmental make-over is coming at a time when the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has issued a warning about food shortages in northern and western provinces.

The government announced Qadri's dismissal on November 10. He became the sixth cabinet minister to be replaced or moved to another post in as many weeks, according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. "Hamidullah Qadri's is suspected of involvement in some illegal activities, and his dismissal is related to incompetence as a minister of transportation, including his failure in providing facilities for Afghans' pilgrimage trip to Mecca," a statement President Hamid Karzai's office said.

An economic adviser to the president, Omar Zakhilwal, has been named to take over the transportation portfolio. Zakhilwal, 40, is a Canadian-educated economist and also president of the state-owned Afghanistan Investment Support Agency.

Since mid-October former education minister, Hanif Atmar, has been appointed to the Interior Ministry, with former parliamentary affairs minister Farooq Wardak taking over the Education Ministry. The former governor of Kandahar, Asadullah Khaled, took over at the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, and Asef Rahimi became agriculture minister. Former interior minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel was appointed head of the Ministry for Refugees and Repatriation.

Ex-transport minister Qadri will now face a criminal investigation, the president's office added.

Karzai's administration is confronting a social crisis in the coming weeks and months. According to the Agriculture Ministry, the country's wheat crop for 2008 was down 36 percent over the previous year's total, according to UNHCR. Drought was the primary reason for the decline. The shortfall has caused the cost of wheat and wheat flour to rise roughly 200 percent over the past 12 months. UNHCR adds that drought conditions have forced at least 6,500 individuals to leave northern and western provinces.