The radical Islamist movement Taliban, which seized power in Afghanistan, said the new caretaker government will be led by Mohammad Hasan Akhund, AlJazeera reports.
The Taliban has appointed Mohammad Hasan Akhund, a close aide to the group’s late founder Mullah Omar, as head of Afghanistan’s new caretaker government, weeks after it took control of the country in a rapid offensive.
It's worth noting that Mullah Akhund is on a UN sanctions list and is the longtime head of the Taliban’s powerful decision-making body Rehbari Shura, or leadership council. He was previously the foreign minister and then deputy prime minister during the Taliban’s last stint in power from 1996-2001. Like many in the Taliban leadership, Mullah Akhund derives much of his prestige from his proximity to the movement’s reclusive first leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar. Akhund hails from Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban. A UN sanctions report described him as a “close associate and political adviser” to Omar.
He played a crucial leadership and guidance role in the Rahbari Shura council of leaders, often called the Quetta Shura, formed after the Taliban was driven out of power in a US-led military invasion in 2001.
The list of cabinet members announced by chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on Tuesday was dominated by members of the group’s old guard, with no women included.
Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office, will be 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 Mullah Omar, has been named as defense minister. Hedayatullah Badri will be the acting minister of finance, while Amir Khan Muttaqi, a Taliban negotiator in Doha, was named foreign minister.