Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday he had accepted a vote by the country's parliament to dismiss his two top security ministers, but ordered both to remain in their jobs pending replacement, according to a report of Reuters. The fractious parliament voted on Saturday to remove Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak and Interior Minister Bismillah Mohammadi after a series of recent insurgent assassinations of top officials, as well as cross-border fire incidents. Karzai, who chaired a Sunday meeting of Afghanistan's National Security Council, issued a statement thanking the pair for "their hard work and dedication", and saying replacements would be brought in.
