Taliban names ex-Guantanamo detainees and wanted man to new caretaker government
By Tim Lister and Eliza Mackintosh, CNN
Updated 6:12 PM ET, Tue September 7, 2021
https://www.cnn.com/2021/09/07/asia/taliban-government-announcement-intl/index.html
A convoy of Taliban fighters in Kandahar celebrate the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces on September 1.
Former Guantanamo detainees, one of the FBI's most wanted men
The lineup of senior positions, which includes former Guantanamo inmates, members of a US-designated terror group and subjects of an international sanctions lists, presents the first snapshot of how the Taliban's leadership of Afghanistan will begin to take shape.
Like many in the Taliban's incoming cabinet, interim Prime Minister Mohammad Hassan Akhund is under United Nations sanctions. A long-time Taliban member, he has been leader of the group's Shura, or Leadership Council, for about two decades.Some analysts had originally tipped Abdul Ghani Baradar for the top role. Baradar served in the Taliban's political bureau in Doha, Qatar, and led the Taliban's peace talks with the US. He recently arrived back in Afghanistan after a 20-year-exile and reportedly met with CIA chief William J. Burns.
Two senior members of the Haqqani network, a US-designated terror group aligned with the Taliban and al Qaeda, will also be in the interim government. Both have been sanctioned by the UN and the US.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the network's leader, will be the acting interior minister. Haqqani has been one of two deputy leaders of the Taliban since 2016. A member of the FBI's "most-wanted" list, he has a $10 million bounty on his head.
Khalil Haqqani, Sirajuddin's uncle, was appointed as acting minister for refugees. He has a $5 million bounty for his past relationship with al Qaeda. Two other members of the Haqqani clan were also named to positions in the interim government.
Four men receiving senior positions in government had previously been detained by the US at Guantanamo Bay, and were released as part of a prisoner swap for Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in 2014: The Taliban appointed Noorullah Noori to acting minister of borders and tribal affairs, Abdul Haq Wasiq as acting intelligence director, Khairullah Khair to acting minister of information and culture and Mohammad Fazil Mazloom to deputy minister of defense.
A fifth detainee released in the 2014 trade, Mohammed Nabi Omari, was appointed as the new governor of the southeastern province of Khost last month, according to Taliban.
They were mostly mid- to high-level officials in the Taliban regime that was swept from power in 2001 and had been detained early in the war in Afghanistan.
Women omitted from new government
A Taliban fighter stands guard as Afghan women shout slogans during a protest in Kabul on Tuesday.
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