At least 14 members of the Taliban’s hardline interim government in Kabul are on the UN Security Council’s terrorism blacklist, including acting Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hasan Akhund and his both deputies, raising concern of the international community over the composition of the new Cabinet in Afghanistan.
Specially designated global terrorist Sirajuddin Haqqani, who carries a reward of USD 10 million US bounty on his head, is the acting interior minister while his uncle – Khalil Haqqani has been named as acting minister for refugees. Acting defence minister Mullah Yaqoob, acting foreign minister Mullah Ameer Khan Muttaqi and his deputy Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai are all listed under the UNSC 1988 Sanctions Committee, also known as the Taliban Sanctions Committee.
“At least 14 members of the Taliban’s interim government are on the UN Security Council blacklist, BBC Urdu reported.
The 33-member interim Cabinet includes four of the five leaders known as the “Taliban Five” who were once held at the Guantanamo Bay prison. They include Mullah Mohammad Fazil (deputy defence minister), Khairullah Khairkhwa (information and culture minister), Mullah Noorullah Noori (Borders and Tribal Affairs minister) and Mullah Abdul Haq Wasiq (Director of Intelligence). The fifth member of the group, Mohammad Nabi Omari, has been appointed as governor of eastern Khost Province recently.
The “Taliban Five” leaders were released from Guantanamo Bay prison by the Obama administration in 2014 in exchange for US Army deserter Bowe Bergdahl. Fazil and Noori are accused of ordering the massacres of ethnic Shia Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek communities in Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998.