President Ghani in a decree defined new authorities of First Vice President Amrullah Saleh, assigning him to head the distribution of land to migrants and IDPs, and head of coordination between the government, the UN, NGOs and civil society.

A copy of the decree seen by TOLOnews reads that Saleh will report to the president with these new duties.

Given his background as former head of the National Directorate of Security (NDS), Saleh was expected to be given responsibilities in the security and intelligence areas.

The Presidential Palace in a statement clarifies that First VP Saleh’s current authorities will remain, while special authorities have been given to him. The Palace says rumors about limitations on Saleh’s authorities are "baseless."

“A monopoly of power has not had a good outcome in the past, either. If this policy is repeated, it will not have a good result,” said Sayed Ahmad Selab, an MP, referring to claims that President Ghani has monopolized power.

“When you hand the authority of the Ministry of Public Health to an adviser, and you hand security affairs to your close advisor, or when you establish the operational authority (of the Presidential Palace) and when you want to dismember even the Ministry of Finance…. all these create a crisis that cannot guarantee a bright future for Afghanistan,” said Abdul Zahir Tamim, an MP.

TOLOnews could not get Saleh’s comment, but hours after the news broke he wrote on his Facebook page that he is okay and that he has enough authority to fight the “minor corona (the coronavirus)” and the “major corona (the Talib and terror).”