AfghanistanÂ’s parliament voted to dismiss the countryÂ’s foreign minister on Saturday amid an uproar over IranÂ’s forced return of thousands of refugees. Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta lost a no-confidence vote by a large majority in a second round of voting, after the first round on Thursday hinged on a single spoilt ballot. Refugees Affairs Minister Akbar Akbar earlier lost his job in ThursdayÂ’s vote, according to the Associated Foreign Press.Spanta was accused of not doing enough to persuade Iran to ease its policy of forced repatriation, while Akbar allegedly failed to help accommodate thousands of refugees forced out by Iran this month. Nearly two million Afghans are still living as refugees in Iran more than half of them illegally despite millions of Afghans having returned from Iran and Pakistan after the toppling of the Taliban in late 2001. Iran says it wants the illegal Afghans out of its country by March 2008. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says more than 52,000 were forced out between April 21 and May 8, according to government figures.
According to the Afghan Constitution, Spanta has lost his job but President Hamid Karzai could decide to keep him on as acting minister until he chooses a replacement for him, officials said.