KABUL (Reuters) – The Afghan parliament rejected  over half of President Hamid Karzai’s second slate of cabinet  nominees yesterday, including two out of three women, dealing  him a second major political blow in as many weeks.

Several key ministers were confirmed, including for Foreign  Affairs, Justice and Counter-Narcotics, but 10 out of 17  candidates were voted down, meaning Karzai is still without  confirmed leaders for over a third of his ministries.

Parliament unexpectedly threw out the majority of his first  picks in a vote two weeks ago, a move hailed as positive for  democracy but a setback for Afghan reconstruction after months  of uncertainty caused by last year’s fraud-marred presidential  poll.

The second round of vetoes will prolong the turmoil at a  time when the insurgency is worsening and after a year when  record numbers of foreign troops and civilians were killed.

In an embarrassing development, it also emerged yesterday  that the nominee for the ministry of rural development was  underage, a government official said. The candidate was 31  years old while under the constitution the minimum age is 35.

Karzai has been under intense pressure from his Western  backers, and frustrated Afghans, to choose ministers deemed  clean and competent. Those who were approved in the first round  of voting were mostly liked by foreign diplomats. The second round of picks are less well-known but there was  widespread unhappiness about the choice of Zarar Ahmad Muqbel,  a former Interior Minister who international diplomats lobbied  hard to have excluded from earlier cabinets.