New Wolesi Jirga Speaker underestimated and might be the pain in Karzai's neck

The for five years elected Lower House Speaker Abdul Rauf Ibrahimi in his first public statements called on President Karzai to introduce the remaining cabinet ministers for confidence vote. He said the presence of acting ministers and acting head of Supreme Court is unconstitutional. And soon after the house completed the appointment of all members of the parliament board, he said, Wolesi Jirga will shift the focus to ratify national budget. One day later only he called on President Karzai to dissolve the special elections court. And under his guidance Wolesi Jirga appointed a 34 member delegation, including the Lower House speaker, for talks with the President regarding their demands. The Lower House threatened it will summon six members of the High Council of the Supreme Court, if President Karzai does not note the MPs demands, the administrative board of the Lower House said March 02, 2011. Meanwhile some MPs urged the House to summon the attorney-general as well.

At the first glance Ibrahimi might have looked as relatively weak speaker, who's not firmly in the opposition. He seems to have worked with everyone, so he was perfect for consensus. But the members of the Ibrahim Clan, a predominant feudal family in the Imam Sahib district in Kunduz, are survivors and knew in the past at the earliest to work with the winners and not with the losers in Northern Afghanistan. The Ibrahimis are wealthy people and cannot so easily be bought by Karzai's cronies. And although they have not yet played a prominent role in national afghan politics, they are experienced enough to understand the rules of the game at the Kabul stage. Ibrahimi is a key person in Kunduz and had bagged a seat in Wolesi Jirga in 2005 and was reelected for a second term. Ibrahimi feels that the Karzai Government after the "transition of power" from the western countries will sooner or later collapse and he surely will not side with the losers.