Taliban present new government

A new Taliban regime will be unveiled in Afghanistan at a press conference, and according to spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, the regime will only be seen as temporary.

“We know that the people of our country are waiting for a new government,” spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told the BBC.

Mulla Mohammad Hasan Akhund will be the head of the new board, AFP reports. He was born in Kandahar and co-founded the movement in the 1990s. Under the previous Taliban government in Afghanistan, he served as foreign minister, according to the Times of India.

The Taliban’s supreme leader, Mullah Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada, is said to have appointed Mohammad Hasan Akhund as the new head of state.

Mulla Abdul Ghani Baradar will be the deputy leader. Baradar has already been pointed out by observers as the one who is likely to become politically responsible. In recent years, he has been in charge of the Taliban political bureau in Qatar, where peace talks have taken place with, among others, the United States.

Spokeswoman Zabiullah Mujahid introduces Sirajuddin Haqqani, head of the powerful and terror-scarred Haqqani network suspected of ties to Pakistani intelligence services, as interior minister. Sirajuddin Haqqani has already been wanted by the FBI.

Mulla Yaqoob, head of the Taliban military commission and son of the founder of the Taliban, Mullah Omar, has been appointed interim defense minister.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs will be the leader of the Taliban Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The text is updated.