Fresh blow for Karzai as cabinet all but rejected

AFGHAN President Hamid Karzai suffered a new blow to his authority with the rejection by parliament of most of his cabinet nominees, further prolonging political crisis in the war-ravaged country.

Of the 24 people Karzai put forward for the cabinet, only seven won approval on Saturday in a secret ballot of more than 200 lawmakers.

The rejections leave Afghanistan without a fully functioning government, dragging out a political vacuum that has prevailed since an August presidential election, with ministries being run by junior bureaucrats.