Taliban name new Afghan government amid protests in Kabul
Sarajuddin Haqqani, son of the founder of the Haqqani network, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, will be the new interior minister,
By IAR Desk
The Taliban finally named its new government on Tuesday, September 7, 2021. Mullah Hassan Akhund, an associate of the movement’s late founder Mullah Omar, as the head of Afghanistan’s new government on Tuesday, with Mullah Abul Ghani Baradar, head of the movement’s political office, as deputy.
Sarajuddin Haqqani, son of the founder of the Haqqani network, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, will be the new interior minister, the Taliban’s main spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference in Kabul.
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Mullah Omar, has been named as defence minister. All the appointments are in an acting capacity, Mujahid told a news conference in Kabul.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the movement’s political office, was appointed as Akhund’s deputy, main Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference in Kabul.
Mullah Amir Khan Mutaqqi has been announced as the Foreign Minister with Mullah Sher Mohammad Stanikzai, who had studied in India, named as his deputy.
The Finance Ministry will be headed by Mullah Hidayatullah Badri.
All the appointments are in an acting capacity, Mujahid told a news conference in Kabul.
The announcement of the Taliban government had been delayed, it is widely believed, due to power tussles within the organisation.
It took by Pakistan’s spy chief Lieutenant-General Faiz Hameed to visit Kabul after which the government was announced.
Mullah Baradar had widely been slated to head the government. His demotion as a deputy has ignited speculation about rivalries within the group.
Baradar, who had been close to Mullah Omar, the founder of the Taliban, had been a senior Taliban commander in charge of attacks on U.S. forces and had led the negotiations with the US in Doha. He had been arrested and imprisoned in Pakistan in 2010, becoming head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha after his release in 2018.
There has also been speculation about Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supreme leader. He has not been seen or heard in public since the collapse of the Western-backed government and the seizure of Kabul by the Taliban. It was announced last week that he was in Kandahar and would take on the responsibility of the Supreme Leader or spiritual head of the government in the manner of the Ayatollahs in neighbouring Iran.
Former Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Jihadi leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, who had been leading the Afghan government in peace talks with the Taliban were not included in the government.
The new government has immediately drawn forth criticism. Afghan ambassador to Sri Lanka M. Ashraf Haideri took to Twitter to say, ‘”Inclusive” in terms of: UN-sanctioned leadership; Mullah laden/driven; All men; No women; One ethnicity out of 55 others; No religious and sectarian diversity; Foreign handpicked.’
What @US4AfghanPeace relentlessly strove to achieve for @JoeBiden, Trump and got it!’
The announcement came against the backdrop of protests by residents in Kabul and other cities like Herat’and Mazar-i-Sharif against the Taliban and Pakistan.
The protests broke out after Ahmed Massoud, who is heading the National Resistance Front, in avoice message, called for n Afghans to rise up against the Taliban. Though the Taliban had announced in the day that they had overtaken Panjshir, the last remaining province, the Resistance Front has denied that the province has fallen to the Taliban and said the fightwas still on.
–With agency inputs
