Taliban announce new caretaker Afghan government

KABUL: The Taliban on Tuesday announced Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund as the leader of their new caretaker government in Afghanistan.

Chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid also told a press conference that Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar will be the deputy leader.

Taliban’s deputy leader Sirajuddin Haqqani will be the acting interior minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi will be the acting foreign minister and political chief Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai will be the deputy foreign minister, he added.

Fazel Akhund has been named chief of the Afghan armed forces and Muhammad Yaqoob Mujahid will be the country’s new defence minister, Mujahid announced.

The cabinet is not complete, it is just acting,” Mujahid said at the Government Information and Media Centre in Kabul.

“We will try to take people from other parts of the country.”

Amir Khan Muttaqi, a Taliban negotiator in Doha and member of the first regime’s cabinet, was named foreign minister.

On Monday, the Taliban claimed victory in the northeastern Panjshir province — the last Afghan region still holding out against their rule.

In a press conference yesterday, chief Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid warned against any further attempts to rise up against their rule.

“Anyone who tries to start an insurgency will be hit hard. We will not allow another,” he said.

Taliban took control of the rest of Afghanistan three weeks ago, taking power in Kabul on August 15 after the Western-backed government collapsed and President Ashraf Ghani fled the country.