Taliban announces new Afghan government

Taliban spokesman says new caretaker government will be led by Mohammad Hasan Akhund.

The Taliban has announced the names of several members of a new caretaker government in Afghanistan led by Mohammad Hasan Akhund.

Abdul Ghani Baradar will be the deputy leader and Sirajuddin Haqqani, son of the founder of the Haqqani network, has been named as interior minister, chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at a press conference in Kabul on Tuesday.

Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Taliban founder Mullah Omar, has been named as defence minister. Hedayatullah Badri will be the acting minister of finance.

“The Islamic Emirate decided to appoint and announce a caretaker cabinet to carry out the necessary government works,” Mujahid said.

Mujahid named 33 members of “the new Islamic government” and said the remaining posts will be announced after careful deliberation.

Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford reporting from Kabul said many of the names announced by Mujahid were “old faces”.

“It’s also important to say that a lot of these names, the vast majority of them are actually Pashtun and are not taking into consideration, arguably critics would say, the vast great ethnic diversity of this country.”

Mujahid stressed that the cabinet was an “acting” government and that the group will “try to take people from other parts of the country”.

The announcement comes a week after the United States completed its withdrawal, ending its 20-year occupation of the country.

The Taliban had promised an “inclusive” government that represents Afghanistan’s complex ethnic makeup – though women are unlikely to be included at the top levels.

It was not clear what role in the government would be played by Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban leader, who has not been seen or heard in public since the collapse of the Western-backed government and the takeover of Kabul by the Taliban in August.

Al Jazeera