Taliban has announced a new Afghan Government that will be headed by Mohammad Hasan Akhund who had served as governor of Kandahar province during the Taliban’s first reign in the 1990s. He was a close aide to the group’s co-founder Mullah Omar and held the position of deputy foreign minister.
Gatekeepers News reports that the Taliban, who took power in August has been expected to announce a government since the United States pulled out of Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid at a news conference in Kabul announced names of members of the new caretaker government in Afghanistan, which excluded women.
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office, was named the deputy leader while Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of the founder of the Haqqani network, has been named as interior minister.
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, has been appointed as the defence minister. Hedayatullah Badri will be the acting minister of finance, while Amir Khan Muttaqi, a Taliban negotiator in Doha, was named foreign minister.
“The Islamic Emirate decided to appoint and announce a caretaker cabinet to carry out the necessary government works,” said Mujahid, who named 33 members of “the new Islamic government” and said the remaining posts will be announced after careful deliberation.
Gatekeepers News reports Mujahid stressed the cabinet was an “acting” government and that the group will “try to take people from other parts of the country”.
