The Taliban have decided to form an inclusive caretaker government in Afghanistan, according to a member of the group’s shura (consultation committee).
The Taliban overthrew the US-backed Ashraf Ghani government within weeks after most of the invading foreign forces withdrew from the county, and took over Kabul on August 15.
The Taliban shura member said the caretaker government would include leaders from all ethnicities and tribal backgrounds in the country, as well as Taliban commanders, and currently, a dozen names are being considered to be made part of the new government.
The shura member said that initially appointments in the new government will be made for the ministries of judiciary, internal security, defence, foreign affairs, finance, information and a special assignment for Kabul’s affairs.
He said that Taliban co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is present in the Afghan capital, while the Taliban Chief of Army, Mullah Muhammad Yaqoob, has left Kandahar for Kabul, to have initial discussions on forming the government.
The decision of the Taliban movement is apparently moved by the recent bomb attacks outside Hamid Karzai Airport, engaged in evacuating thousands of people from Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. The responsibility of the attack, killing over 100 people, was claimed by Daesh Khorasan.
If the conciliatory messaging put out by the movement since its lightning seizure of Kabul is anything to go by, the group aims to be more tolerant as compared to their harsh 1996-2001 rule.
A source associated with the Taliban said that the group remains committed to the 2020 Doha accord, signed with the United States, which obliges the Taliban to not using the Afghan soil for any terrorist activity, as reported by Al Jazeera.
