Build Military Strength, The Taliban Will Recruit Soldiers And Pilots Educated In Turkey, Germany And Britain

JAKARTA - Successfully taking over power in Afghanistan, the Taliban is currently carrying out internal restructuring. The model of leadership in government and the development of military power are the two main focuses.

Afghanistan may be ruled by the ruling council now that the Taliban have taken over, while the top leader of the militant Islamist movement, Haibatullah Akhundzada, is likely to remain in overall responsibility, a senior Taliban member said.

In addition, the Taliban will also reach out to former pilots and soldiers from the Afghan armed forces to join its ranks, Waheedullah Hashimi, who has access to the group's decision-making, added in an interview.

How successful the recruitment will be remains to be seen. Thousands of soldiers have been killed by Taliban insurgents over the past 20 years, and recently the group has targeted US-trained Afghan pilots for their pivotal role.

On recruiting soldiers and pilots fighting for the ousted Afghan government, Hashimi said the Taliban was planning to form a new national force that would include its own members, as well as government troops willing to join.

"Most of them have received training in Turkey, Germany and England. So we will talk with them to return to their positions," said Hashimi quoting Reuters on Thursday, August 19.

"Of course we will have some changes, to do some reforms in the army, but we still need them and will call them to join us."

Hashimi said the Taliban desperately needed pilots because they didn't have them. Meanwhile, they have seized helicopters and other aircraft at various Afghan airfields during the flash conquest, after foreign forces withdrew.

"We have contact with a lot of pilots. And we have asked them to come and join, join their brothers, their government. We call a lot of them and look for numbers (others) to call them and invite them to their work, " he explained.

He said the Taliban expected neighboring countries to return planes that had landed on their territory, referring to the 22 military planes, 24 helicopters and hundreds of Afghan soldiers who fled to Uzbekistan over the weekend. how Afghanistan was run the last time the Taliban were in power from 1996 to 2001. Sticking to the way of the late Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, the day-to-day running of government is under a council.

Haibatullah Akhundzada is likely to play a role above the head of the council, which will be similar to the country's president, Hashimi explained.

"Perhaps his deputy (Akhundzada) will play the role of 'president'," said Hashimi, speaking in English.

The top Taliban leader has three deputies: Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, Mullah Omar's son Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the powerful Haqqani militant network, and Abdul Ghani Baradar, who heads the Taliban's political office in Doha and was one of the group's founding members.

Many issues about how the Taliban will run Afghanistan have not been resolved, Hashimi explained, but Afghanistan will not be a democracy.

"There will be no democratic system at all because it has no basis in our country. We will not discuss what kind of political system we should implement in Afghanistan because it is clear. This is sharia law and that's all," he said.

Hashimi added that he would join a meeting of the Taliban leadership that will discuss governance issues later this week.