The Taliban on Tuesday announced that UN-sanctioned leader Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund will head their new government in Afghanistan while key positions will be held by the movement’s top officials.
Making the announcement, Taliban chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference that the group’s co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar will be the deputy leader.
Mullah Yaqub, the son of the Taliban founder and late supreme leader Mullah Omar, has been named the defence minister, while the position of interior minister was bestowed in Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the feared Haqqani network.
“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.”
The Taliban took over the South Asian country on August 15.
They have been expected to announce a government since the US-led evacuation was completed by August 31.
Amir Khan Muttaqi, a Taliban negotiator in Doha and member of the first regime’s cabinet, has been named the country’s foreign minister.
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