Afghan Taliban appoint new provincial governors, military commanders

Qari Baryal has been appointed governor of Kabul, says spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid

KABUL:

The Afghan Taliban on Tuesday appointed governors and military commanders on key positions at provincial level on the directives of group’s supreme leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada.

Taliban spokesperson Zabiullah Mujahid in a statement on Sunday unveiled the names of new provincial governors, deputy governors and military commanders.

Qari Baryal has been appointed governor of Kabul, Mufti Mohammad Idrees will serve as his deputy and Wali Jan Hamza will be the military commander of the Afghan capital, as per the official statement.

The interim Afghanistan government headed by Muallah Hassan Akhunzada appointed Abdul Ghani governor of Badakhshan province, Muhammad Ali governor of Paktia province, Nisar Ahmad governor of Kunduz province while Qari Bakhtiar and Haji Mali Khan have been appointed as governors of Baghlan and logar provinces, respectively.

Likewise, Abdullah Mukhtar will serve as governor of Paktika province, Abdullah Sarhadi of Bamyan, Haji Dawat of Uruzgan, Rouhani Sahib of Farah, Abdul Rehman Sar-e-Pol and Shoaib of Jowzjan. Ishaq Akhunzada has been appointed governor of Ghazni province.

Also read: Taliban make new appointments on key govt posts

Development comes days after the Taliban supreme leader warned against the danger of turncoats and infiltrators in the movement that has taken charge of Afghanistan.

Reflecting the seriousness of the threat, the reclusive Haibatullah Akhundzada issued a rare written public statement to urge Taliban commanders to purge their ranks.

In it he said: "All those elders of their groups must look inside their ranks and see if there is any unknown entity working against the will of the government, which must be eradicated as soon as possible”.

"Whatever wrong happens, the elder will be responsible for the consequences of the actions in this world and in the afterlife," he warned, in a statement tweeted out by multiple Taliban accounts.

The Taliban seized power in August after overrunning the capital and ousting the collapsing US-backed government, declaring a new Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.

But after 20-years of guerrilla warfare, the Taliban have been forced to expand their ranks rapidly by recruiting former foes, allied militants and young madrassa students.