Presidential Runner-Up to Form Political Party

Younis Qanooni, who quit as education minister to run in Afghanistan’s presidential race and came in second to Hamid Karzai, said he is forming an opposition political party.

Before Karzai named his Cabinet last week, there had been speculation that he would give control of the Defense Ministry to Qanooni, an ethnic Tajik who was a senior figure in the Northern Alliance, which helped the United States drive the Taliban from power in 2001. The post was instead given to Abdul Rahim Wardak, an ethnic Pushtun.

Qanooni said he was offered the job but turned it down because he wasn’t qualified and because he felt that being a Cabinet member would limit his political role. He plans to call his party New Afghanistan.