Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Wednesday announced a cabinet reshuffle, dropping his long-time foreign minister and the women's minister.
The list of the new 26-member cabinet has been sent to parliament for approval, a statement from Karzai's office said.
Karzai will replace foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah with his chief international politics advisor Dadfar Rangin Spanta, Karzai's spokesman Khaleeq Ahmad said.
Other changes included the dropping of women's affairs minister Masouda Jalal, Karzai's female former rival in the October 2004 presidential elections, and transferring Rural Development Minister Hanif Atmar to the education ministry, the statement said.
Karzai has also cut down his old 28-member cabinet by two ministries, with the Youth Affairs and Social Affairs ministries merging with the Information and Culture and Economy ministries respectively, Ahmad said.
The new cabinet has yet to be approved by the powerful lower house of the parliament, which was elected last year.