Taliban announced hard line all men interim government

 No big names of  the Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara groups included in the Taliban government

The Taliban has announced the interim government led by interim Prime Minister  Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund and consists of its veteran leaders. No other Afghan group included in the interim government.  No women included in 33 strong interim government. There is also no representation of main ethnic Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara groups. 

The new cabinet will be led by Mullah Muhammad Hasan Akhund as Prime Minister with Mullah Ghani Baradar serving as his first deputy, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid announced in a press conference in Kabul.

The announcement of key figures in the caretaker government comes weeks after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan, and presents the first picture of how their leadership of the country will begin to take shape.

The new Cabinet has also been announced with the top posts being awarded to Taliban personalities who dominated the 20-year battle against the US-led coalition and its Afghan government allies.

The naming of Akhund as the head of the government comes as a surprise given that he is not as well-known as other members of the cabinet, such as the 53-year-old Baradar, who is the co-founder of the Taliban.

Hassan Akhund is one of the members of leadership council of the Taliban for the past two decades. He is one of the founders of the Taliban movement and a reputable person among the Taliban leadership. He served as foreign minister under Mullah Umer in the first Taliban government. 

Afghanistan’s new interior minister will be Sirajuddin Haqqani, 48, the head of the Haqqani network, one of the most feared insurgent groups that was founded by his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, to fight the Soviet invasion in the 1980s. Mullah Yaqoob, son of Taliban’s founder Mullah Omar and currently the group’s military head, is set to become the acting defense minister.

Amir Khan Mutaqi has been announced as the acting Foreign Minister and Hydayatuallh Badiri as the Acting Finance Minister. Amir Khan Mutaqi has been announced as the acting Foreign Minister and Hydayatuallh Badiri as the Acting Finance Minister.

The supreme leader of the Taliban since 2016, Hibatullah Akhundzada, who is considered the new spiritual head of Afghanistan, has currently not been named in any official position of power.All the ministers announced by the Taliban spokesperson are members of insurgent group and are mullahs or religious figures, while no women or non-Taliban members feature in the list.

Mujahid underlined that this was just an interim or “acting” government, but offered little information about the country’s future political process.The Taliban took control of almost all of Afghanistan with the conquest of Kabul on Aug.15, following a rapid offensive during the final withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country.

The Taliban took control of almost all of Afghanistan with taking control of Kabul on Aug.15, following a rapid offensive during the final withdrawal of US and NATO troops from the country.The insurgents announced yesterday the conquest of the northern province of Panjshir, the last stronghold of the resistance; although the National Resistance Front has claimed it has not been defeated yet.

The Taliban announced the interim government  on the same day that hundreds of Afghans demonstrated in several locations across Afghanistan in solidarity with the resistance against the Taliban. 

                                                              Khalid Bhatti