Michael Scollon Mustafa Sarwar Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty October 26, 2021 The Taliban has been criticized for including some notoriously shady characters in Afghanistan’s acting government, perhaps none more than Sirajuddin Haqqani, a designated terrorist last photographed hiding behind a plant. In his first public appearance since he was named the Taliban’s interior minister in
By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi October 19, 2021 The Taliban’s acting interior minister, Sirajuddin Haqqani, a wanted global terrorist and one of the country’s most senior officials, has praised suicide attackers and promised their relatives money and land. Haqqani, the leader of the notorious Haqqani network and listed as a terrorist by the United States with a
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty September 14, 2021 The Taliban is denying reports that the former head of their political office in Doha has been killed in a shoot-out with another senior Taliban figure during an argument over how to divide power in a Taliban-led caretaker government. The denials come amid persistent rumors of internal divisions
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.
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,
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 19, 2021 The Taliban has placed security for the Afghan capital, Kabul, in the hands of senior members of the Haqqani Network, which has close ties with foreign jihadist groups including a long-standing association with al-Qaida. Western intelligence officials say the assignment is alarming and undercuts Taliban promises to tread
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