Jordan's King Abdallah yesterday asked academic Adnan Badran to form a new pro-reform government to replace the two-year-old Cabinet of Prime Minister Faisal Fayez. His nomination is seen as a sign of the king's efforts to forge ahead with political reform in the country and follows criticism of the Fayez government by Abdallah over its performance at an Arab summit last month. Jordan is also under pressure from the West, namely its allies in Washington, for failing to carry out satisfactory reforms, political sources said. "The new government will be tasked with accelerating the pace of reform and the new prime minister is a progressive man who brings with him wisdom and experience," a senior official said.US officials expressed their displeasure with the lack of political progress during talks last month in Washington with Abdallah, the official said, noting that the United States is one of Jordan's main financial backers. "Jordan was a pioneer among Arab countries in the field of reform but it has been lagging behind over the past few years," a former Cabinet minister who declined to be identified told AFP. Jordan is also caught in a diplomatic row with neighboring Iraq, which accuses Amman of not doing enough to stop alleged Jordanian militants from infiltrating across the border to take part in the deadly insurgency.