GEIS-新闻详情

Taliban announces leader, first ministers in new Afghan government

2021-09-07 00:00:00.0 海峡时报-亚洲原网页

KABUL (AFP, BLOOMBERG) - The Taliban announced Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund as the leader of their new government in Afghanistan on Tuesday (Sept 7).

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

Akhund is the little-known head of the Taliban’s leadership council and was named as acting prime minister by spokesman Mujahid said at a press conference in Kabul.

Baradar, the main public face of the Taliban, will serve as Akhund's deputy.

Sirajuddin Haqqani – the leader of the Haqqani Network, a US-designated terrorist organisation – will serve as acting interior minister.

That may complicate any moves by the United States to cooperate with the Taliban, particularly as President Joe Biden urges the Taliban to cut all ties with terrorist groups.

The US and its allies have been watching to see whether the Taliban would form an inclusive government that can stabilize the country and prevent a return to civil war.

Other demands include freedom of travel for those who want to leave Afghanistan and rights for women, who faced extreme repression when the Taliban last held power at the turn of the century.

For the new Taliban government, lots is at stake. Signs of an economic crisis are brewing, with prices of essential goods rising in Kabul while banks run short on cash.

The U.S. has frozen roughly US$9 billion (S$12.1 billion) in assets belonging to Da Afghanistan Bank, or DAB, the nation’s central bank, and the International Monetary Fund cut off the group from using fund reserve assets.