Afghanistan: Taliban Names New Leader, Deputy, Others

Taliban on Tuesday named Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund as the leader of their new government in Afghanistan.

Naija News reports that this was made know by the spokesperson of the group, Zabihullah Mujahid at a press conference.

According to Mujahid, Taliban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar will be the deputy leader.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, who is wanted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI, was declared the new acting Interior Minister.

Hassan Akhund, the new prime minister, served as deputy foreign minister from 1996 to 2001, when the group were last in power.

Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister, is head of the militant group known as the Haqqani network who are affiliated with the Taliban and have been behind some of the deadliest attacks in the country’s two-decade-long war.

Unlike the wider Taliban, the Haqqani network has been designated a foreign terrorist organisation by the US.