ISI favourites in Taliban Cabinet headed by Mullah Hasan

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 7

The Taliban on Tuesday announced a new government headed by Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund, comprising no woman and almost all members drawn from the insurgent group itself.

Faced with past-paced developments, Indian and Russian NSAs will hold extensive talks on Wednesday in this respect. Russian NSA Nikolay Patrushev will also call on PM Narendra Modi and Foreign Minister S Jaishankar.

The visit is a follow-up to PM Modi’s telephonic talk with Russian President Valdimir Putin during which they had agreed to set up a permanent communication channel on Afghan developments, said a MEA release.

In Kabul, Mullah Baradar and Abdul Salam Hanfi will be the two Deputies of Mullah Hasan but of greater interest was the naming of ISI favourites Sirajuddin Haqqani, a designated global terrorist, and Mullah Yaqoob as the next Interior and Defence Ministers in a Cabinet of over two-dozen men.

Though dominated by the old guard, basically members from the Quetta Shura and the Haqqani network, the Taliban appointed a Tajik, Qari Fasihuddin, the architect of victories in northern Afghanistan, including Panjshir Valley, as the Defence Minister.

Only six countries—Russia, China, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan and Qatar – have been invited so far to attend the inaugural ceremony.

Significantly, the Taliban have removed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs from the Cabinet on a day, women-led demonstrations were held in four Afghan cities, including Kabul, a day after Panjshir resistance leader Ahmad Massoud, who has gone underground, gave a call for national resistance.

Days after the ISI chief’s visit, it began with a small demonstration by women in front of the Pakistani embassy. Minutes later, they were joined by hundreds of residents till aerial gunfire and a cane charge by masked Taliban men dispersed them.

Protests were also reported from the adjacent Shia Hazara dominated provinces of Bamyan and Daikundi besides Balkh, dominated by Tajiks and Hazaras. “Pakistan, Pakistan, Leave Afghanistan,” read a placard held aloft in Kabul.

Cities dominated by non-Pashtuns have been on the edge ever since the Taliban bludgeoned its way into Panjshir Valley to subdue Tajik Afghans amidst allegations of assistance from a Pakistani drone strike that killed two charismatic resistance leaders including former journalist Fahim Dahsti some members of Ahmad Massoud’s family.

Reports suggested that ISI chief Lt Gen Faiz Hamid’s visit had led to reshuffle in the proposed Taliban Cabinet.

Kabul was preparing for a change in government as old slogans and wall paintings were being whitewashed while journalists shared images of a university classroom where a curtain separated men and women students.