Taliban Appoints Senior Veteran As Minister: There Is A Little Friend Of Mullah Omar To A Former Guantanamo Detainee

JAKARTA - The Taliban group has appointed senior veterans to key official positions, such as finance and security ministers, as it prepares to run a government in crisis.

In addition to trying to determine a central government, the Taliban are also trying to organize the administration of Kabul to keep it running. However, these names have not been officially announced.

Quoting Reuters Thursday, August 26 from Afghanistan's Pajhwok news agency, although a commander said it was temporary, last Tuesday Talibab appointed Gul Agha as finance minister and Sadr Ibrahim as acting interior minister.

Meanwhile, former Guantanamo detainee Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir was appointed acting defense minister, Al Jazeera news channel reported, citing a Taliban source.

A Taliban official in Kabul confirmed key ministerial appointments made this week, after the Islamist militant group seized control of all government offices, the presidential palace and parliament.

The official, who has joined the group as a senior political strategist, added that the provincial governor would be chosen among some of the most experienced commanders of the 20-year war that has just ended.

A Taliban commander also confirmed the top minister's choice, but stressed that it had not been made official.

"Last night we had a meeting at the presidential palace, we discussed these things but have not appointed or announced any of them," said the commander who declined to be named because details of the discussions had not been announced.

According to some experts, others appointed to government positions appear to be mostly Taliban military leaders from the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar.

"They are familiar names," said Ashley Jackson, co-director of the Center for Armed Group Studies at the Institute for Overseas Development in Oslo, referring to the designation.

"They (Taliban) don't really show much diversity or show a desire for civilian rule."

Gul Agha will appear as Gul Agha Ishakzai. The head of the Taliban's finance commission, he has been designated a target for UN sanctions. He was a childhood friend of the late Taliban founder Mullah Omar, the UN/Interpol sanctions notice says.

"At one time, no one was allowed to meet Mullah Omar unless approved by him," the note said.

Jackson said the appointment made sense, as Gul Agha would step into a parallel role to the one he played when the Taliban fought the insurgency, only in government.

Meanwhile, Zakir is a veteran Taliban battlefield commander and a close associate of Omar. He was arrested when US-led forces became involved in Afghanistan in 2001 and imprisoned at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba until 2007, according to media reports. He was released and handed over to the Afghan government.

Sadr, an interior ministry official, is believed to be a strong and trusted figure within the Taliban. Last week, the Taliban appointed Haji Mohammad Idris as the acting head of the central bank.

A senior Taliban official said Idris, from the northern province of Jawzjan, had long experience dealing with financial matters with the movement's previous leader, Mullah Akhtar Mansour, who was killed in a drone strike in 2016.

While appointing loyalists to senior positions, the Taliban also ordered mid-level officials in the finance ministry and central bank to return to work.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told reporters in Kabul on Tuesday, "it's time for people to work for their country".