Afghan President Hamid Karzai reshuffled his cabinet today, moving the education minister to take over the Interior Ministry, which administers the police force and has been criticised for corruption.
As the war against the Taliban enters its eighth year, violence in Afghanistan has reached record levels with Western allies pointing to a lack of good governance and endemic corruption as factors feeding the insurgency.
The appointment of Hanif Atmar to the Interior Ministry is likely to be praised by Mr Karzai's Western backers as he is seen as a capable administrator who has made great improvements in education and is seen as being free from corruption.
A government spokesman said outgoing Interior Minister Zarar Ahmad Moqbel would become minister for refugees, while Minister of Parliamentary Affairs Farooq Wardak would become education minister.
Other new appointments came at the ministry of agriculture and a new minister for parliamentary affairs.
All the cabinet appointments must be approved by parliament, which is dominated by former warlords anxious to maintain Afghanistan's delicate ethnic balance in the government.
Reuters