The Taliban included the leader of a U.S.-designated terrorist group during a new government to formally mark the group’s return to power after 20 years of war with America, because the West grapples with whether to acknowledge the new administration.
Mullah Mohammad Hassan, the little-known head of the Taliban’s leadership council, was named as acting prime minister, spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said at a group discussion in Kabul on Tuesday. Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the most public face of the group who signed a peace cope with the Trump administration last year, will function his deputy.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani Network who is on the FBI’s darling list for terrorism, will function acting interior minister. that will complicate any moves by the U.S. to cooperate with the Taliban, particularly as President Joe Biden urges the Taliban to chop all ties with terrorist groups.
The Taliban want good relations with all countries within the world, including the U.S., Mujahed told reporters. He called the cupboard a “diverse group” that included a spread of ethnicities and backgrounds, although no women were chosen.
“We’re not a tribal force,” Mujahed said, adding that the group wanted good relations with the U.S. despite the war. “We hope all countries within the world will recognize the legitimacy of our government and our Islamic regime.”
The U.S. and its allies are watching to work out whether the Taliban would form an inclusive government that may stabilize the country and stop a return to war. Other demands include freedom of travel for people who want to depart Afghanistan and rights for girls, who faced extreme repression when the Taliban last held power at the turn of the century.
At an appointment on Tuesday, White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said she did not have a timeline for when the U.S. would recognize the new Taliban government and was still working to evacuate remaining Americans.
“There’s no rush to recognition,” she said. “It is actually visiting be captivated with what steps the Taliban takes. the planet are watching, the us included.”
For the new Taliban government, lots is at stake. Signs of an economic condition are brewing, with prices of essential goods rising in Kabul while banks go on cash. The U.S. has frozen roughly $9 billion in assets belonging to Da Afghanistan Bank, or DAB, the nation’s financial institution, and therefore the International fund interrupt the group from using fund assets.
Mujahed made no mention of Taliban Supreme Commander Haibatullah Akhundzada, who hasn’t been seen publicly since becoming the group’s leader in 2016. Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of former supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar — who refused to present up Osama terrorist to the U.S. before the 2001 invasion — became acting defense minister.
Other key cabinet members included:
- Abdul Salam Hanafi, second deputy prime minister
- Amir Khan Muttaqi as acting secretary of state
- Hedayatullah Badri as acting minister
- Din Mohammad as acting economy minister
- Mohammad Edris as acting governor of the financial organization
The regional and wider security threats have already played at the Kabul airport, where a bombing blamed on a neighborhood off-shoot of the Islamic State terror group killed nearly 170 Afghans and 13 U.S. service personnel within the last days of the chaotic American evacuation from the country.
The Taliban has sought to recast themselves during a more moderate mold: promising amnesty for his or her enemies, vowing to make an inclusive government with various ethnic groups, keep terrorist groups off Afghan soil and allowing women to figure within the bounds of jurisprudence.
