Afghan President Hamid Karzai has appointed a new cabinet that pushes out warlords and includes technocrats.
Mr. Karzai dropped two major figures from the Northern Alliance group of generals who helped the United States remove the Taleban from power in 2001. They are former Defense Minister Mohammed Qasim Fahim and Yunus Qanooni, who stepped down as education minister to run against Mr. Karzai for president.
Abdul Rahim Wardak is the new defense minister.
Mr. Karzai retained Interior Minister Ali Jalali and Foreign Minister Abdullah but he dropped Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai as finance minister. Anwar Ul-Haq Ahady is the new finance minister.
The president has included in the new cabinet the former warlord, Ismael Khan, who was ousted as governor of Herat in September.