Taliban forces patrol in front of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, Afghanistan, September 2, 2021. (Reuters/File)Afghanistan crisis Highlights: In a written statement, acting Prime Minister Mullah Hasan Akhund congratulated Afghans for the “withdrawal of all foreign forces, end of the occupation and complete liberation of the country” and said that the new government will work towards upholding Sharia law in Afghanistan.
“I assure all the countrymen that the figures will work hard towards upholding Islamic rules and sharia law in the country,” Akhundzada said in a statement released in English, AFP news agency reported.
The Taliban named Mullah Hassan Akhund, an associate of the movement’s late founder Mullah Omar, as the head of Afghanistan’s new government on Tuesday, with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the movement’s political office, as deputy.
Sarajuddin Haqqani, son of the founder of the Haqqani network, designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, will be the new interior minister, the Taliban’s main spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference in Kabul.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is one of the co-founders of the Taliban. (File Photo/Reuters)
In a written statement, acting Prime Minister Mullah Hasan congratulated Afghans for the "withdrawal of all foreign forces, end of the occupation and complete liberation of the country" and said that the new government will work towards upholding Sharia law in Afghanistan. “I assure all the countrymen that the figures will work hard towards upholding Islamic rules and sharia law in the country,” Akhundzada said in a statement released in English, AFP news agency reported.
Two people were killed and 8 were wounded during protest in Afghanistan's Herat, news agency AFP is reporting.
The Taliban named Mullah Hasan Akhund, an associate of the movement’s late founder Mullah Omar, as the head of Afghanistan’s new caretaker government on Tuesday.
Mullah Hasan is presently head of the Taliban’s powerful decision-making body—Rehbari Shura or leadership council— which serves much like a government Cabinet running all the group’s affairs subject to the approval of the top leader.
Originally from Kandahar, Hassan was one of the founding members of the armed movement. He worked for 20 years as head of Rehbari Shura and remained close to the Taliban’s supreme leader Maulvi Haibatullah Akhundzada. Click here to know more about him.
Al Jazeera’s Charles Stratford reporting from Kabul said that many of the names announced by the Taliban were “old faces”. “It’s also important to say that a lot of these names, the vast majority of them are actually Pashtun and are not taking into consideration, arguably critics would say, the vast great ethnic diversity of this country,” Stratford was quoted as saying.
Here is the list of ministers in the Taliban government:
-Hassan Akhund as the ‘acting’ Prime Minister in the new Afghan government. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar will be his deputy.
-Amir Khan Muttaqi will be the Foreign Minister.
-Abas Stanikzai will be the acting deputy Foreign Minister.
-Mullah Yaqoob will be the Defense Minister.
-Sarajuddin Haqqani will be the Interior Minister.
-Amir Khan Muttaqi will be the Foreign Minister.
-Abas Stanikzai appointed as acting deputy Foreign Minister.
-Mullah Yaqoob appointed as Defense Minister
-Sarajuddin Haqqani is appointed as Interior Minister. More details here.
The Taliban named Mullah Abul Ghani Baradar, head of the movement's political office, as deputy prime minister on Tuesday.
Mullah Baradar belongs to the Popalzai Pashtun tribe, and is known as a co-founder of the Taliban along with Mullah Muhammad Omar, the first Amir. Baradar was among the few dozen original members of the Taliban, and currently heads the group’s political office. His name means “brother” and was conferred by Mullah Omar himself as a mark of affection. Click here to know more about him.
*The Taliban has appointed Hassan Akhund as the 'acting' Prime Minister in the new Afghan government. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is appointed as his deputy. * Amir Khan Muttaqi appointed as Foreign Minister * Abas Stanikzai appointed as Deputy Foreign Minister. * Mullah Yaqoob appointed as Defense Minister * Sarajuddin Haqqani appointed as Interior Minister
The Taliban on Tuesday appointed Hassan Akhund as the acting prime minister in the new Afghan government. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar was appointed as his deputy, a spokesperson said.
The Taliban is likely to announce the first members of new Afghanistan government Tuesday night, news agency AFP is reporting citing an official.
South Korea's Foreign Ministry says Seoul is willing to work with a new Afghanistan government led by the Taliban if it follows "international convention, respects basic human rights and refuses to provide refuge for terrorism."
Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam spoke at a briefing on Tuesday where he addressed comments by Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who in an interview with South Korean broadcaster SBS called for Seoul to reopen its embassy in Kabul, saying that the safety of South Korean diplomats would be ensured. (AP)
The Taliban fired gunshots to disperse an anti-Pakistan rally on Tuesday in Kabul and arrested several Afghan journalists who were covering the demonstration, the Associated Press reported citing witnesses and Afghan media outlets.
An Afghan journalist who was among those detained and who was later freed told The Associated Press he was punished by the Taliban. “They made me rub my nose on the ground and apologize for covering the protest,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fears for his safety. “Journalism is Afghanistan is getting harder," he added.
Afghanistan's TOLOnews TV channel said its cameraman Wahid Ahmadi was also among those arrested.
China termed as “pure fake news” a report that the Taliban plans to hand over Afghanistan's key Bagram airbase vacated by the US troops to it.
“I can tell you this is pure fake news,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a media briefing here when asked about a report that Taliban plans to hand over Bagram air force base to China and the Kandahar airport to Pakistan.
In July, the US military left Bagram Airfield - its key base in Afghanistan - after nearly 20 years. At its height, Bagram base was home to tens of thousands of US troops.
The airbase played a key role in US military conducting its land and air operations against rebels in its war on terrorism in Afghanistan, which formally ended last month with the complete withdrawal of American and NATO troops and Taliban seizing power in the war-torn country.
(PTI)
South Korea's Foreign Ministry says Seoul is willing to work with a new Afghanistan government led by the Taliban if it follows international convention, respects basic human rights and refuses to provide refuge for terrorism.
Ministry spokesman Choi Young-sam spoke at a briefing where he addressed comments by Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, who in an interview with South Korean broadcaster SBS called for Seoul to reopen its embassy in Kabul, saying that the safety of South Korean diplomats would be ensured.
The (Seoul) government will closely monitor the changes in the internal political situation of Afghanistan and will closely coordinate with the international community in responding to the matter, Choi said.
(PTI)
Even as thousands of anti-Taliban protestors took to the streets of Kabul today, a video shared by a Tolo New journalist showed women locked in a basement parking.
The protests, which were held to denounce Taliban rule and demand that women's rights be maintained, came a day after resistance leader Ahmad Massoud urged civilians to join the uprising against the Taliban.
Students across Afghanistan have started returning to university for the first time since the Taliban stormed to power, and in some cases females have been separated from their male peers by curtains or boards down the middle of the classroom.
What happens in universities and schools across the country is being closely watched by foreign powers, who want the Islamist militant movement to respect the rights of women in return for vital aid and diplomatic engagement.
Read more
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said on Tuesday Washington has identified a "relatively" small number of Americans seeking to depart from Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif.
Blinken, who was speaking with his Qatari counterpart in a joint press conference in Doha, said that the challenge with the evacuation charter flights is that some Afghans seeking to leave do not have appropriate documents.
linken and US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin are in Qatar to seek the evacuation of Americans and Afghans at risk following the Taliban takeover and to build a consensus among allies on how to respond to the Islamist movement. (Reuters)
Afghanistan is facing the collapse of basic services and food and other aid is starting to run out, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said on Tuesday.
OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke told a UN briefing that millions of Afghans were in need of food aid and health assistance, urging donors to give more ahead of an international aid conference for Afghanistan on Sept. 13. (Reuters)
Turkey is working with Qatar and the United States about operating Kabul airport and is in talks with the Taliban, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said on Tuesday, adding security at the airport was the main issue.
Cavusoglu told broadcaster NTV that 19 Turkish technicians were in Kabul, holding talks with Qataris about the airport. Turkey has told the Taliban that it would not take part in the airport mission unless its units are involved in security.
Cavusoglu said the Taliban could ensure security outside the airport, but they would need a more reliable mechanism inside. A private security company could be used for the mission if the Taliban insisted on having no foreign powers in Afghanistan, Cavusoglu said. (Reuters)
The Taliban has fired shots to disperse an anti-Pakistan rally in Kabul, says news agency AFP. Videos on social media showed a crowd, comprising of men and women, holding placards with slogans against Pakistan.
In the Afghan capital, demonstrations are going on in which women and others are chanting "freedom" and "death to Pakistan", according to videos on social media.
Seventy-eight people including Afghan nationals, who were evacuated from Afghanistan after Kabul fell to Taliban last month, were on Tuesday discharged from an ITBP facility here after they completed a 14-day quarantine rule in place to check the spread of coronavirus infection.
The group includes 53 people from Afghanistan (34 men, nine women and 10 children), and 25 Indians (18 men, five women and 12 children), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey said. They were handed over medical certificates and a red rose as they left the facility. These people were brought to this COVID-19 quarantine facility located in south-west Delhi's Chhawla area on August 24 after they landed here onboard an evacuation flight operated by the Indian Air Force.
The Afghan nationals have been sent to a designated location in south Delhi while the Indians are expected to go to their homes, a senior officer said.
The facility still has 35 people, who returned from Afghanistan, under quarantine that includes 24 Indians and the rest from Nepal. They are expected to be discharged on Wednesday. (PTI)
The situation in Panjshir province was “dire” and “troubling” for the 130,000 people trapped there, according to an Al Jazeera report.
The Taliban and resistance front fighters have been locked in a fight for the Panjshir province, which was one of the last remaining frontiers in Afghanistan after Taliban took over Kabul in mid-Aug. On Monday, Taliban claimed control of the territory, but the opposition forces said that resistance will continue.
The Al Jazeera report, quoting a civilian in the province, said that the region is facing a shortage of basic necessities. It said thatthe Taliban have blocked the road from Kabul to Panjshir since last week, making transfer of goods impossible. “Whatever food people had in their houses, that’s what they’ve been eating for weeks, now, the stores and bazaars are all empty,” the report quoted the civilian.
Over two decades, the United States and its allies spent hundreds of millions of dollars building databases for the Afghan people. The nobly stated goal: Promote law and order and government accountability and modernise a war-ravaged land.
But in the Taliban's lightning seizure of power, most of that digital apparatus -- including biometrics for verifying identities -- apparently fell into Taliban hands. Built with few data-protection safeguards, it risks becoming the high-tech jackboots of a surveillance state. As the Taliban get their governing feet, there are worries it will be used for social control and to punish perceived foes.
Putting such data to work constructively -- boosting education, empowering women, battling corruption -- requires democratic stability, and these systems were not architected for the prospect of defeat. Since Kabul fell Aug. 15, indications have emerged that government data may have been used in Taliban efforts to identify and intimidate Afghans who worked with the US forces. (AP)
The Taliban claimed victory on Monday in the last part of Afghanistan still holding out against their rule, declaring that the capture of the Panjshir valley completed their takeover of the country and they would unveil a new government soon.
Pictures on social media showed Taliban members standing in front of the gate of the Panjshir provincial governor's compound after days of fighting with the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), commanded by Panjshiri leader Ahmad Massoud.
However, Massoud remained defiant, and said his force, drawn from the remnants of the regular Afghan army as well as local militia fighters, was still fighting. (Read more)
Three sets of events last week highlight Pakistan’s special importance in Afghanistan after the Taliban victory. One was the appearance of Lt Gen Faiz Hameed, the chief of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence, in Kabul. Another was a (virtual) meeting of top regional diplomats from Afghanistan’s neighbours (Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and China) convened by Pakistan’s special representative on Afghanistan, Mohammed Sadiq. Meanwhile, many major regional and international leaders interested in Afghanistan are picking up the phone to call Prime Minister Imran Khan or contact the Army chief, General Qamar Jawed Bajwa. Delhi should expect even more Pakistan-centred political and diplomatic activity on Afghanistan in the days ahead.
Does this intense activity translate into concrete outcomes in favour of Pakistan? Frenzied motion does not always compute as purposeful movement. Pakistan has an uphill task in converting its tactical advantages in Afghanistan into strategic gains. (Read more)
Afghanistan’s professional T20 cricket tournament, which was due to start on Friday, has been postponed, an official from the country's cricket board (ACB) told Reuters.
The Shpageeza Cricket League was due to feature eight franchises – up from 2020’s six – including holders The Kabul Eagles.Top Afghani players, including world number three T20 bowler, leg-spinner Rashid Khan, were set to play in the 15-day league, which was expected to be contested across the country.
However, after the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15, the future of many sporting events in the country remains uncertain. (Reuters)
Qatar's ruling emir and the visiting US secretaries of state and defense discussed developments in Afghanistan and efforts to enhance security there, the emir's court said on Monday.
The emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, received US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin after their arrival in Doha earlier in the day.
The visit came as Washington sought support for the evacuation of Americans and at-risk Afghans left behind in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover and for building a consensus among allies on how to respond to the new Islamist rulers. (Reuters)
The fall of Panjshir, the last remaining holdout controlled by the Northern Alliance forces, means curtains for the armed opposition to the new rulers of Afghanistan for now.
There are broadly five takeaways from the victory that the Taliban claimed on Monday. Unlike in the 1990s, when the Northern Alliance were able to control the supply lines from Tajikistan to the Panjshir valley, this time the Taliban captured the provinces to the north of Panjshir. As a result, they were able to surround the valley, and to effectively cut off supply lines of arms, ammunition, fighters, food, and fuel to the resistance. (Read more)
The United States has evacuated four American citizens from Afghanistan via a land route, an official told reporters accompanying US Secretary of State on his flight to Qatar. "This is the first overland evacuation facilitated by the State Department," the official was quoted as saying by DW, but did not clarify which countries the Americans had transited through or arrived in. He added that the Taliban were aware of the move and had not hindered it.
The Taliban on Monday asserted that it will not allow any country, including Pakistan, to interfere in Afghanistan’s internal affairs as it confirmed that ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed met the insurgent group’s de-facto leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul, news agency PTI reported. The questions of interference in Afghanistan’s internal affairs were raised after the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Hameed dashed to Kabul on an unannounced visit last week.
The Taliban on Monday confirmed that Pakistan's powerful intelligence chief Lt Gen Faiz Hameed has met its de-facto leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, amidst efforts by the insurgent group to finalise a government in Afghanistan.
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Hameed dashed to Kabul on an unannounced visit last week, becoming the only high-ranking foreign official to visit Kabul since the Taliban seized the Afghan capital in mid-August.
During a press conference in Kabul on Monday, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid confirmed that the ISI chief had met with Mullah Baradar during his visit to Kabul, BBC Urdu reported. (PTI)
Russia and India have a "common concern" that the Afghan soil should not be a source of spreading terrorism to other countries and there is a "danger" of terror being spread to the Russian territory as well as Kashmir, Moscow's envoy Nikolay Kudashev said on Monday.
In an interview to PTI, the Russian ambassador to India also said that there is not much difference between Russia and India's position on the overall Afghan situation and noted that Moscow's approach in according recognition to a Taliban regime would depend on its actions.
Britain is investigating whether or not some veterans from the Afghan war have taken their own lives because they are so devastated by the chaotic withdrawal of US-led forces from the country Britain’s armed forces minister said on Monday.
The humiliation of the lightning Taliban takeover in Afghanistan after a 20-year war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and at least a trillion dollars has dismayed veterans of the war.
Britain lost 457 armed forces personnel in Afghanistan, or 13 per cent of the international military coalition’s 3,500 fatalities since 2001. Read the full report here.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid Monday claimed that he had been told that Ahmad Massoud, who leads the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), and former vice president Amrullah Saleh have escaped to neighbouring Tajikistan. Massoud, who in a Twitter message said he was safe, but gave no details.
The Taliban would welcome German investment in Afghanistan and help in areas including humanitarian aid, health care, education and infrastructure, the group's spokesman told Bild newspaper.
Germany, acting in concert with the European Union, has laid out conditions to resume a diplomatic presence in Kabul and unfreeze development aid, urging the Taliban to respect human rights, particularly those of women.
"The German government could encourage its entrepreneurs to come and invest in our country," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an interview with Bild published on Monday. (Reuters)
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a press conference in Kabul said the war in Afghqanistan was over and that they hoped Afghanistan would become a stable country. He added that the security and defence personnel, who have been trained in various fields for the past 20 years, will be re-recruited alongside the Taliban in the security and defense institutions.
According to news agency AP, Taliban spokesman, Mujahid, has denied that there were any disagreements within the movement about the formation of a new government. While the spokesman said that the government would be announced soon, he did not set a date.
He also said women were back at work in the health and education sectors and "other fields will be provided, one by one, once the system has been established for them".
Afghanistan and Mexico might appear distant from one another on a world map and are also separated by major historical, sociological and religious differences. But the Taliban and the Mexican cartels are united by the fact that they are both financially dependent on drug trafficking and use extreme violence to expand their political power and control of territory. Ahead of the elections in Mexico in June, numerous candidates were threatened and killed by the cartels, which supported other candidates and bought votes more openly than ever before.
In 2009, renowned experts had already presented evidence to the US Congress of the global perils posed by the Taliban and Mexico’s cartels as “transnational drug-trafficking organizations” at a US Congress hearing, pointing out dangerous similarities that have only increased since then. (Read more)
Britain is investigating whether or not some veterans from the Afghan war have taken their own lives because they are so devastated by the chaotic withdrawal of US-led forces from the country Britain's armed forces minister said on Monday.
The humiliation of the lightning Taliban takeover in Afghanistan after a 20-year war that cost hundreds of thousands of lives and at least a trillion dollars has dismayed veterans of the war. Britain lost 457 armed forces personnel in Afghanistan, or 13 percent of the international military coalition's 3,500 fatalities since 2001.
James Heappey, a junior defence minister, initially told Sky News that some soldiers had taken their own lives in the past week "because of the feelings they have had over what's happening in Afghanistan". But Heappey later rowed back from the comment, telling the BBC that his remark had been inaccurate. "We're looking very, very carefully at whether or not it is true that someone has taken their life in the last few days," he told BBC TV.
The defence ministry said Heappey had misspoken and that it had no confirmed suicide cases among British Afghan veterans due to the withdrawal. (Reuters)
Taliban spokesman says new Afghan government to be announced could be interim, with a view toward changes in future, reports Reuters.
Speaking on the Pakistan offical's visit, he says: "Pakistan repeatedly asked to visit Kabul & we recently agreed. They are worried about the release of prisoners, those who belong to Pakistan and want to carry out attacks in Pakistan. We assured them that no one will be allowed to threaten any country from Afghanistan." (TOLOnews)
Afghan resistance leader Ahmad Massoud says in Twitter message that he is safe, reports Reuters.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid reitereated the group's stance that it wants good relations with the world. He also projected China as the group's preferred partner.
China is a big economic power and is very important for Afghanistan and Afghanistan needs its support for reconstruction and development, he said in a press conference.
The war has ended, said Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid in a press conference on Monday, reports TOLOnews.
Mujahid said that the Taliban hope to have a stable Afghanistan, adding that anyone who take up arms is the enemy of the people and the country.
He repeated that an Islamic and accountable government will be formed. The Afghan forces who were trained in the past 20 years will be asked to rejoin the security departments alongside the Taliban forces, he added.
Under Taliban, university students are segregated based on gender and female students are required to wear hijab, according to photographs shared on social media. The photos are said to be from Ibn-e- Sina University in Kabul.
Earlier this week, Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid told a Pashto channel in Pakistan that Afghans oppose the fence erected by Pakistan along the Durand Line. “The new Afghan government will announce its position on this issue. The fencing has separated people and divided families. We want to create a secure and peaceful environment on the border so there is no need to create barriers,” Mujahid said.
The issue has sowed distrust between Afghans and Pakistan for decades, and is a potential flashpoint in relations between the Taliban and Pakistan. (Read more)
A Twitter account, allegedly run by the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, has refuted Taliban's claims of capturing Panjshir province.
Purported photos of Taliban fighters in Panjshir province's capital Bazarak have emerged on social media.
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan (NRFA), which fought the Taliban in Panjshir, confirmed on Sunday that its main spokesman, Fahim Dashti, had been killed during the day.
Dashti had survived the suicide attack that killed Massoud's father, Ahmad Shah Massoud, on Sept. 9, 2001, just days before the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States.
He had been one of the main sources of updates from the area as the Taliban pressed in on opposition forces, issuing a defiant series of statements on Twitter, vowing that resistance would continue. (Reuters)
Taliban say Panjshir Valley 'completely captured', according to an AFP report. It said that the last Afghanistan province resisting Taliban have acknowledged suffering major battlefield losses and called for a ceasefire.
Senior Taliban officials met in Kabul on Sunday with the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, who promised to maintain assistance for the Afghan people, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen said.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the Taliban’s political office and other officials met Martin Griffiths as Afghanistan faces a potentially catastrophic humanitarian crisis caused by severe drought and a collapsing economy.
“The UN delegation promised continuation of humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people, saying he would call for further assistance to Afghanistan during the coming meeting of donor countries,” Shaheen said on Twitter. (Read more)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will address lawmakers on Monday about Britain's withdrawal from Afghanistan, amid criticism of the handling of the evacuation and failure to predict how quickly the Taliban would sweep through the country.
The United States and Britain withdrew from Afghanistan last month, and Johnson's foreign minister Dominic Raab has admitted that both countries misjudged the Taliban's capacity to seize control.
The Taliban took Kabul on Aug. 15.Johnson has faced stinging criticism from lawmakers for intelligence and leadership failures over the fall of Kabul, and he has admitted that the decision by the United States to withdraw left Britain with little choice but to pull its own forces. (Reuters)
About 1,000 people, including dozens of Americans and Afghans holding visas for the United States or other countries, remained stuck in Afghanistan for a fifth day on Sunday while awaiting Taliban clearance for flights out of the country, the New York Times reported.
The newspaper reported that the situation facing those hoping to leave from the international airport in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif mirrored that of thousands who were unable to board flights from Kabul after the Taliban took the capital before US troops withdrew.
The senior Republican on the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee, Mike McCaul, told Fox News Sunday that six airplanes were stuck at Mazar-i-Sharif airport with Americans and Afghan interpreters on board, unable to take off because they had not received clearance from the Taliban. He said the Taliban were holding passengers "hostage for demands," but multiple reports disputed McCaul's statement. (Read more)