Ariana: “We intend to create a national and independent army under MoD to defend the country with high values. We will attempt to equip the IEA army with modern weapons. The army should have ground and airspace capabilities,” said Mullah Yaqoob. Click here to read more (external link).
By Frud Bezhan Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 7, 2021 The Taliban has formed a new, theocratic government in Afghanistan, weeks after the August 15 collapse of the internationally recognized administration in Kabul and within days of international troops’ departure. Taliban leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, a hard-line cleric and former chief justice, has been named supreme
Aamaj News: Zabihullah Mujahid has announced that Mullah Mohammad Hassan will lead the new government. Mullah Baradar was appointed as first deputy. Mawlavi Hannafi was appointed as second deputy. Mullah Yaqub was appointed by the Taliban to head the Ministry of National Defense. Sirajuddin Haqqani has been appointed by the Taliban as acting interior minister.
Abdul Sayed VOA News September 5, 2021 After two decades of near-constant warfare and destruction, the Taliban now face the need to figure out how to govern the underdeveloped and impoverished nation they have just recaptured. Some insight into how that may progress can be gleaned from a closer look at the group’s leadership and
Tahir Khan Ayesha Tanzeem VOA News August 29, 2021 KABUL/ISLAMABAD – A senior Taliban leader confirmed to VOA on condition of anonymity that the group is in the final stages of announcing a new Cabinet that was expected to include all members of its current Rahbari Shura, or leadership council. Taliban supreme commander Hibatullah Akhundzada
Ron Synovitz Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty August 25, 2021 As the Taliban transforms its military chain of command into a governing structure for Afghanistan, alliances and tribal configurations that kept two rival Taliban factions together in recent years are now being tested. “Conquering a country is always the easy part. Ruling it, in Afghanistan’s case,
Foreign Policy: Early indications suggest Afghanistan will be led by a 12-man council of criminals, terrorists, and the more pliant members of the former government. The three most powerful men in the leadership council will be Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, co-founder of the Taliban; Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of the group’s founder, Mullah Mohammad Omar,
VOA News August 19, 2021 Taliban fighters captured major areas in quick succession on their way to seizing Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, Sunday, 20 years after U.S.-led forces knocked the group from power. Here are some of its key leaders. Mawlawi Haibatullah Akhundzada He is the Taliban’s supreme leader, a position he took following the death
Jamie Dettmer VOA News August 16, 2021 The rapid Taliban offensive across Afghanistan that culminated Sunday with the flight of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani was meticulously planned and executed with ruthless efficiency, say Western military experts. And they note the Islamist militants appeared to have learned from their tactical mistake in the mid-1990s, when they
By Ron Synovitz RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi August 6, 2021 With the Taliban in control of more than half of all districts in Afghanistan, promises made by Taliban political negotiators in Doha appear to be falling by the wayside. The movement’s so-called Political Affairs Commission in Doha had vowed in a February 2020 peace deal with the