Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Friday said that he supported formation of an opposition party to challenge and criticize the government's performance at the parliament.

The president made the statements to journalists after administering the oath-taking of his new Cabinet members.

Karzai, who was sworn-in as the first popularly elected president of the post-war nation on Dec. 7, announced his 27-member Cabinet Thursday night enabling the western-educated reformists to replace the warlords who used to influence the interim and transitional setups over the past three years.

"I will support a national political party to challenge government at the parliament and I had discussion with Mr. Qanooni about it and told him that I would support him if he forms a national political party," Karzai asserted.

"In the absence of such political party, parties should become ethnic, linguistic or provincial and Afghanistan should not go that path," emphasized karzai.

Former Education Minister Mohammad Yunus Qanooni was the chief challenger to Karzai in the Oct. 9 presidential elections in which Karzai captured over 55 percent of the eight million votes cast for.

However, he noted that such party should not be supported from outside the country.

Karzai also said, "My government is apolitical, I do not want to be a political setup but rather want to serve the nation and rebuild this war-ravaged country."

"Afghanistan needs peace, security and reconstruction. We should provide electricity, education, bread and honorable life to the people," he noted.

"I want to achieve my agenda that is to increase the per-capita income of our people from US$200 to US$700 during my term as the head of the nation over the next five years," said the president.

Meanwhile, he categorically ruled out the possibility of any challenges from the warlords who have been removed from the Cabinet, saying the parliament is the only way to criticize the government.

(Xinhua News Agency December 25, 2004)