KABUL - President Hamid Karzai on Monday nominated four ministers-designate and a provincial governor to fill vacant slots, the Office of Administrative Affairs said.

Zarar Ahmad Muqbil was nominated as acting foreign minister, Mohammad Arif Noorzai as acting energy and water minister and Mohammad Akbar Barakzai as acting minister of mines.

The appointments were made in line with Article 64 of the constitution. The ministers will be introduced soon to the Wolesi Jirga for a confidence vote.

Earlier in the month, Zalmai Rassoul stood down as foreign minister, Anwarul Haq Ahadi as commerce minister, Wahidullah Shahrani as mines minister, Mohammad Ismail Khan as water and energy minister and Gul Agha Sherzai as governor of Nangarhar to run for the presidency.

But a new commerce minister is yet to be named, as Ahadi has been excluded from the preliminary list of candidates that was released by the election commission last week.

Meanwhile, a credible source confided to Pajhwok Afghan News that Deputy Minister of Border and Tribal Affairs Abdul Malik Siddique had been named as acting minister of counternarcotics.

Former Maidan Wardak governor Mohammad Halim Fidaee had been appointed as governor of Logar and Gulab Mangal as Nangarhar governor, the source revealed. (Pajhwok)