Afghanistan's parliament on Saturday rejected the majority of President Hamid Karzai's nominees for cabinet posts, state television broadcasts showed.

Out of a total of 24 nominees, only seven were approved in a secret ballot by more than 200 parliamentarians, in a process that appears to have undermined the president's authority.

"Of the 24 nominees introduced to parliament, seven have succeeded in getting your vote of confidence," parliamentary speaker Mohammad Yunus Qanoni said after the counting ended.

The seven nominees who won approval included those who had been approved by Karzai's supporters in the international community as competent and clean technocrats.

Those rejected included a warlord, Ismail Khan, whom Karzai nominated for the post of water and energy minister, widely seen as a reward for supporting Karzai during the fraud-tainted presidential election in August.

Also rejected, surprisingly, was the only woman nominated to a cabinet post, incumbent women's affairs minister Husn Banu Ghazanfar, who lost out by just two votes, according to the televised count.

Approved were ministry posts for defense, agriculture, interior, finance, education, culture and mines and industries.

Karzai had been hoping to finalize his cabinet before an international conference scheduled to take place in London on Jan. 28 to discuss the future of Afghanistan.

Kabul University law professor Nasrullah Stanikzai said the high rejection rate showed that Karzai had not thoroughly thought out his list – compiled under intense pressure from his international supporters – before presenting it to parliament last month.

"Karzai did not think clearly enough about the list he was presenting, he was under a lot of pressure," said Stanikzai.

Ministries without approved ministers would be run by deputy ministers until nominees were approved, he said, adding that the high rate of rejections would have a negative effect on those ministries leading up to the London conference.

"On the other hand, the high rate of rejections shows that parliament has risen above internecine considerations that have plagued Afghan politics in the past, such as tribal issues and ethnic divisions," he said.