The Presidential Palace (ARG) has asked Amrullah Saleh, the state minister for reforms in security and defense sectors, to clarify his reasons for resigning after only recently being appointed to the newly created position by President Ashraf Ghani in March.
Ghani’s spokesman Shahussain Murtazawi said he learned of Saleh’s resignation through social media.
“We have not received a formal resignation (from Amrullah Saleh). President (Ashraf Ghani) wants to know the real reasons behind Mr. Saleh’s resignation. Government sincerely expected that capacities of Mr. Saleh would be used for reforms in security sector,” he said.
Saleh has said he will share the reasons of his resignation with the people in the near future.
Saleh was appointed to the post in March after being out of government for seven years.
On Tuesday, he announced his resignation on his Facebook page.
Meanwhile, a number of MPs said that the absence of any authority and the symbolic nature of the post would probably be the main reasons for his resignation.
“The philosophy of the state minister for reforms in security sector would not have come to be a reality and the minister in this post is a symbolic post,” said Assadullah Saadati, an MP.
“Mr. Saleh himself should have known that he should have not accepted the position which has no place in the law,” said Ghulam Farooq Majroh, an MP.
Some military analysts meanwhile expressed a different view.
“Unfortunately the monopolizing team of ARG did not show willingness to bring reforms and held no consultations which was required and this resulted that Amrullah Saleh lost hope. It means that he did not have any hope for reforms and therefore he resigned,” said Jawed Kohistani, a military affairs analyst.
The appointment of Saleh to the post, which was not included in government’s initial structures, was met with both optimism and pessimism when established.
Some officials predicted that Saleh would bring stern reforms to security institutions.
However, sources have said the state minister for reforms in security and defense sectors was not even informed about the hiring and firing of officials in security agencies from the day he took up his post.