The Taliban announced important ministerial posts on Tuesday. The Taliban announced that Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund will lead the new government in Afghanistan.
Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid made the statement during a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday.
Here are some facts about the most important dates:
MOHAMMAD HASAN AKHUND, PRIME MINISTER ACTING
Akhund has long been the head of the Taliban’s powerful decision-making body, Rehbari Shura, or leadership council. During the last Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, he was first foreign minister and then deputy prime minister.
Like many in the Taliban leadership, Akhund derives much of his prestige from his proximity to the withdrawn first leader of the movement, Mullah Mohammad Omar.
He comes from Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban.
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A UN sanctions report described him as a “close collaborator and political advisor” to Omar.
Akhund is highly respected within the movement, particularly its supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada, a Taliban source said.
Some observers see Akhund, who is believed to be in his 60s and possibly older, as a political rather than a religious figure, as his control over the leadership council also gives him a say in military affairs.
ABDUL GHANI BARADAR, DEPUTY DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER
Baradar was once a close friend of Mullah Omar, who gave him his name “Baradar” or “Brother”.
He was deputy defense minister the last time the Taliban ruled Afghanistan.
After the fall of the Taliban government, Baradar, as a high-ranking military commander, was responsible for attacks on coalition forces, according to a UN sanctions notice.
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In 2010 he was arrested and detained in Pakistan. After his release in 2018, he headed the Taliban’s political office in Doha and became one of the most prominent figures in peace talks with the United States.
AMIR KHAN MUTTAQI, ACTING FOREIGN MINISTER
Muttaqi is originally from Paktia and describes himself as a resident of Helmand.
Muttaqi was Minister of Culture and Information and Minister of Education during the previous Taliban government. Muttaqi was later sent to Qatar and appointed to the peace commission and negotiating team that held talks with the United States.
According to Taliban sources, Muttaqi is neither a militant commander nor a religious leader.
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In declarations and speeches during the fighting for control of the country, he gave a moderate voice and urged the forces entrenched in the provincial capitals to speak to the group to avoid fighting in urban areas.
In the weeks following the fall of Kabul, Muttaqi played a similar role in the lonely province of Panjshir, calling for a peaceful settlement of hostilities.
MULLAH YAQOOB, ACTING DEFENSE MINISTER
As the son of the Taliban founder Mullah Omar, Yaqoob originally intended to succeed his father in 2015. He stormed out of the council meeting that appointed his father’s successor, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, but was eventually reconciled.
Still in his early 30s and without the long combat experience of the main commanders of the Taliban, he commands the loyalty of part of the movement in Kandahar because of his father’s prestige.
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Last year he was appointed overall head of the Taliban Military Commission, which oversees all military operations in Afghanistan, and was one of three deputy leaders alongside Baradar and Sirajuddin Haqqani.
Although he was viewed as relatively moderate by some Western analysts, Taliban commanders said he was one of the leaders who pushed the military campaign against the cities in the weeks leading up to the fall of Kabul.
SIRAJUDDIN HAQQANI, ACTING MINISTER OF THE Interior
The head of the influential Haqqani network, Sirajuddin Haqqani, became its head after the death of his father Jalaluddin Haqqani in 2018.
Originally backed by the United States as one of the most effective anti-Soviet militias in the 1980s, the semi-autonomous group has been blamed for some of the deadliest attacks on coalition forces.
The network, the exact status of which is being discussed within the Taliban structure, has been described by the United States as a foreign terrorist organization, but the Taliban itself has not.
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The United Nations Sanctions Committee has also said that the group, which is based in the lawless border areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan, is closely involved in drug production and trafficking.
Haqqani is one of the FBI’s most wanted men because he was involved in suicide bombings and had ties to al-Qaeda. The US State Department has offered a reward of up to $ 10 million for clues leading to his arrest.
ZABIHULLAH MUJAHID, DEPUTY MINISTER OF INFORMATION
Long-time Taliban spokesman Mujahid has been the main channel for information about the group’s activities for more than a decade and regularly posts details of suicide attacks on his Twitter account.
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There was no photo of him until his first press conference after the fall of Kabul last month, and for years American military intelligence believed Mujahid was a persona for several people who directed the group’s media operations.
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