The Taliban have announced an interim government in Afghanistan, declaring the country an “Islamic Emirate”.
It will be led by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, one of the movement’s founders, who is on a UN blacklist.
The interior minister will be a feared FBI-wanted leader of the Haqqani militant group.
The Taliban seized control of most of the country on 15 August, ousting the previous elected leadership.
The announcement of the acting cabinet is a key step in the formation of a Taliban government.
A statement attributed to Taliban Supreme Leader Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada told the government to uphold Sharia law.
The Taliban want “strong and healthy relations with our neighbours and all other countries based on mutual respect and interaction”, the statement, released in English, said – with the caveat that they would respect international laws and treaties “that are not in conflict with Islamic law and the country’s national values”.
Hibatullah Akhundzada has never been seen in public. This is the first message appearing to come from him since the Taliban took control last month.
The Taliban have previously said they wanted to form an inclusive government. However, all of the cabinet ministers announced on Tuesday are already established Taliban leaders.
Hassan Akhund, the new prime minister, served as deputy foreign minister from 1996 to 2001, when the group were last in power.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the new acting interior minister, is head of the militant group known as the Haqqani network who are affiliated with the Taliban and have been behind some of the deadliest attacks in the country’s two-decade-long war.
Unlike the wider Taliban, the Haqqani network has been designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US.
Other appointments include:
- Mullah Yaqoob as acting defence minister. He is the son of Taliban founder and late supreme leader Mullah Omar. He first came to prominence in 2015 when, in an audio message released after his father’s death, he called for unity within the militant group.
- Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be one of the PM’s deputies. Baradar was previously head of the Taliban’s political office, and oversaw the signing of the US withdrawal agreement last year.
- Amir Khan Muttaqi is acting foreign minister, a senior leader who took part in negotiations with the US about their withdrawal.
Asked why no women were announced, Ahmadullah Wasiq, from the Taliban Cultural Commission, told the BBC’s Secunder Kermani that the cabinet had not been finalised yet.
