Karzai rejects U.S. request to replace minister

Afghan President Hamid Karzai refused to remove a former warlord from atop the energy and water ministry despite U.S. pressure to oust the minister because they considered him corrupt and ineffective.

Secret diplomatic records showed the minister — privately termed “the worst” by U.S. officials — kept his perch at an agency that controls $2 billion in U.S. and allied projects.

The refusal to remove the official despite threats to end U.S. aid highlights how little influence the U.S. has over the Afghan leader on pressing issues such as corruption.

Reining in graft is seen as vital to Afghanistan’s long-term stability.

President Barack Obama last month cited an urgent need for political and economic progress even as military successes have blunted the insurgency in some regions.

The State Department correspondence was written as Karzai was assembling a Cabinet shortly after his 2009 re-election.

But U.S. aid to Afghanistan has continued despite the dispute over the former warlord, Ismail Khan, in December 2009.

U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry pressured Karzai to remove Khan, a once powerful mujahedeen commander, from the top of the energy and water ministry, according to two State Department reports written at the time by U.S. Embassy officials in Kabul.

They were disclosed last month by WikiLeaks.