The Taliban announced today, Tuesday, the formation of a transitional government that honors elements of the movement’s old guard, granting several senior positions to figures who dominated the 20-year battle against the US-led coalition with the help of its allies from the former Afghan government.
The movement revealed the identities of a number of members of its new interim government, which will be headed by Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund, three weeks after it assumed power in Afghanistan.
But two prominent names in this government are controversial in a way Senior, not only because of their association with the old guard, but also because of their history linked to extremism. Among the appointments, Mullah Yaqoub, the son of Mullah Omar, will take over the Ministry of Defense.
Mullah Yaqoub is the son of Mullah Muhammad Omar and head of the military committee that enjoys great influence in the Taliban, where it decides the strategic directions of the war against the Afghan government.
He initially sought to succeed his father in 2015, but came out angry at a meeting of the movement’s council that appointed Mullah Akhtar Mansour as leader.
But he reconciled with the He eventually led and was appointed deputy to Akhundzadeh after Mansour’s death.
MA He is still in his early forties and does not have the long combat experience that characterizes the prominent field commanders in the movement, but he enjoys the loyalty of part of the movement in Kandahar because of the prestige of his father’s name.
Although some Western analysts consider him relatively moderate, Taliban leaders said he was among the movement’s leaders who lobbied for the military campaign on the cities in the weeks leading up to the fall of Kabul. The Ministry of Interior, Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the Haqqani Network, is the son of Jalaluddin Haqqani. The second man in the Taliban and the leader of the network that bears his family name.
Washington considers the “Haqqani Network” founded by his father a terrorist and one of the most dangerous factions that fought US and NATO forces in the past two decades in Afghanistan.
The Haqqani Network is also known for its use of suicide operations, and a number of the most violent are attributed to it. Attacks in Afghanistan in recent years.
He was also accused of assassinating some senior Afghan officials and holding Westerners hostage before releasing them in exchange for ransom or in exchange for prisoners, such as the American soldier Bo Bergdahl, who was released in 2014 in exchange for five Afghan detainees from Guantanamo Bay.
The Haqqani fighters are apparently responsible for Taliban operations in the mountainous regions of eastern Afghanistan, and are believed to have a strong influence on the movement’s decisions.
