Taliban Announces New Government

By Jeralyn, Section Afghanistan 2009
Posted on Tue Sep 07, 2021 at 01:52:12 PM EST
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The Taliban named its new Government leaders today. Not surprisingly, this is no "Taliban 2.0". Religious minorities and women were excluded from the leadership positions. Its public announcement proclaimed:

"...in the future, all matters of governance and life in Afghanistan will be regulated by the laws of the Holy Shariah.”

Just as in the Taliban administration of the 1990s, almost all top members of the new government are ethnic Pashtun, with one deputy prime minister slot going to an Uzbek, a Tajik commander from the northeastern Badakhshan province becoming chief of army staff, and another Tajik taking over the ministry of economy. The Shiite Hazara community, whose representatives held important positions during the republic and which accounts for more than a fifth of the nation’s population, was excluded altogether.

[More...]

This is the list of Ministers published on their Twitter account:

Prime Minister: Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund
First Deputy Prime Minister: Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar
* Second Deputy Prime Minister: Mullah Abdul Salam Hanafi
Minister of Defense: Maulvi Muhammad Yaqub
Interior Minister: Sirajuddin Haqqani
Foreign Minister: Maulvi Amir Khan Muttaqi
Finance Minister: Mullah Hidayatullah Badri
Law Minister: Maulvi Abdul Hakim
Minister of Education: Maulvi Noorullah Munir
Minister of Information: Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa
Minister of Hajj and Endowments: Maulvi Noor Mohammad Saqib
Minister of Borders and Tribes: Mullah Noorullah Noori
Minister of Refugees: Haji Khalil-ur-Rehman Haqqani
Minister of Communications: Najibullah Haqqani
Minister of Higher Education: Abdul Baqi
Minister of Minerals: Mullah Muhammad Younis Akhundzada
Minister of Petroleum and Mining: Mullah Muhammad Issa Akhund
Minister of Water and Power: Mullah Abdul Latif Mansoor
Minister of Civil Aviation and Transport: Mullah Hamidullah Akhundzada
Minister of Da'wah and Guidance (Commanding the good and forbidding the evil): Sheikh Muhammad Khalid
Minister of Public Works: Mullah Abdul Manan Omari
Chief of Army Staff: Qari Fasihuddin
Director of Intelligence: Mullah Abdul Haq Wasiq
Director Central Bank: Haji Muhammad Idrees
Director Administrative Affairs: Maulvi Ahmad Jan Ahmadi

There are also Deputy Ministers:

Deputy Minister of Defense: Mullah Muhammad Fazil
Deputy Foreign Minister: Sher Muhammad Abbas Stanikzai
Deputy Interior Minister: Mullah Noor Jalal
Deputy Minister of Interior for Anti-Narcotics: Mullah Abdul Haq Akhund
Deputy Minister of Information: Zabihullah Mujahid
Deputy Director Intelligence: Mullah Taj Mir Jawad
Deputy Director Intelligence (Administrative Affairs): Mullah Rahmatullah

The Wall St Journal reports:

Just as in the Taliban administration of the 1990s, almost all top members of the new government are ethnic Pashtun, with one deputy prime minister slot going to an Uzbek, a Tajik commander from the northeastern Badakhshan province becoming chief of army staff, and another Tajik taking over the ministry of economy. The Shiite Hazara community, whose representatives held important positions during the republic and which accounts for more than a fifth of the nation’s population, was excluded altogether.

...With the advances into Panjshir, the Taliban have essentially extinguished the only remainder of armed opposition to their rule. Tuesday’s demonstrations, however, indicated that they also have to reckon with simmering discontent within the wider Afghan society, particularly in Kabul, a modern metropolis where many oppose the Taliban’s puritan ways.

As to the Kabul protests, the Taliban today said:

There are foreign parties behind the demonstrations, and we will not allow chaos in the country.

It remains to be seen the extent to which this new Taliban government is recognized by other countries. And the extent to which Pakistan is behind the new Government. And whether ISIS-KP will continue to be the beneficiary of disgruntled Taliban and minority group fighters.

Also, the Resistance Movement, defeated militarily by Taliban forces, is not willing to be silenced: The NRA announced today:

The official Facebook page of the Office of the Spokesman for the National Resistance of Afghanistan has been launched. Other social media accounts and websites will be announced soon. The new spokesman of the Afghan National Resistance Front will be announced soon. Hackers are attacking our accounts and posts.

Does it bear mentioning that 5 of the Taliban's named leaders, Mullah Mohammad Fazil, Khairullah Khairkhwa, Mullah Noorullah Noori, Mullah Abdul Haq Wasiq and Mohammad Nabi Omari, were held at Guantanamo and released in exchange for U.S. army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl held captive in Afghanistan? They went on to become peace negotiators in Doha.

Reuters has this Factbox on the new leaders.

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Taliban Announces New Government | 5 comments (5 topical)

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The Taliban will (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by KeysDan on Tue Sep 07, 2021 at 09:39:34 PM EST

be in for a surprise if they believe the can just pick up where they left off twenty-years ago. Their cash crop is the opium poppy and they need external political and financial support, at a cost to them.

We should count our blessings that the US military misadventure has ended and be grateful to President Biden for his determination to withdraw in the face of criticism, if not undermining, by much of the national security enterprise and their media cohorts, including the--but it could have been done better crowd. Which includes the never leave crowd but the do it better mantra seems aimed at teaching Biden a lesson.

This is what Texastan is gonna look like (5.00 / 1) (#5)
by desertswine on Tue Sep 07, 2021 at 10:20:03 PM EST

in a few years if the right-wing wackos and radical Christians get their way. But with football, of course.

Who got the opium (none / 0) (#1)
by Chuck0 on Tue Sep 07, 2021 at 07:46:42 PM EST

and heroin ministry? Didn't see that one on the list.

There is already push back (none / 0) (#2)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 07, 2021 at 08:05:59 PM EST

on the idea of curbing the drug trade because it would mostly effect poor farmers.


: PWire (none / 0) (#3)
by CaptHowdy on Tue Sep 07, 2021 at 08:10:52 PM EST

Afghanistan's Vast Drug Trade Will Likely Continue
September 7, 2021 at 12:00 pm EDT By Taegan Goddard 32 Comments
"Afghanistan's huge narcotics trade will likely continue under Taliban rule, experts say, despite promises by the group to ban the production and trafficking of illicit drugs," Nikkei Asia reports.
"Afghanistan's drug industry has expanded dramatically since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion and provides a livelihood for many, making it harder to suppress without impoverishing farmers and destabilizing the country at a time of spiraling economic crisis following the foreign military withdrawal."