Haibatullah Akhunzada to focus on Islamic issues

Taliban co-founder Mullah Baradar will lead the upcoming Government in Afghanistan where the group seized control last control following months of offensives.

Baradar, who heads the Taliban’s political office in Doha, will be joined by Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of late Taliban co-founder Mullah Omar, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, in senior positions in the Government, Tolo News reported citing sources from the Islamic group.

Earlier, the Taliban had announced that Haibatullah Akhunzada, may lead the forthcoming Government in the country but the sources have informed that he will focus on religious matters and governance within the framework of Islam.

But the new Government’s most immediate priority may be to avert the collapse of an economy grappling with drought and the ravages of a 20-year conflict that killed around 2,40,000 Afghans before US forces completed a tumultuous pullout on August 30.

At stake is whether the Taliban can govern a country facing economic meltdown, a humanitarian disaster and threats to security and stability from rival jehadi groups, including a local offshoot of Islamic State.

“All the top leaders have arrived in Kabul, where preparations are in final stages to announce the new Government,” a Taliban official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Taliban, which seized Kabul on Aug. 15 after sweeping across most of the country, have faced resistance in the Panjshir Valley, where there have been reports of heavy fighting and casualties.

Several thousand fighters of regional militias and remnants of the Government’s armed forces have massed in the rugged valley under the leadership of Ahmad Massoud, the son of former Mujahideen commander Ahmad Shah Massoud.