Daily US Times: When Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar returned to Afghanistan after the group took control over the country, he said they are working to establish an inclusive government that represents all the people of Afghanistan. But when Taliban announced its interim government cabinet, his promise was not served. Now a new order begins under Taliban’s governance.
Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid said at the first press conference in Kabul after the militia group suddenly swept into power: “We would like to live peacefully. We don’t want any internal enemies and any external enemies.”
Political pundits, humanitarian chiefs, foreign governments, and Afghans say they all will Judge Taliban by their actions, not their words.
But Afghans are watching the Taliban government most closely of all. They have to.
On a day when brave protesters with bold banners spilled into the streets of the capital city and other cities – Afghan women leading the charge to demand their representation, their rights, their roles in society – the new Taliban government was unveiled.
The new interim government in Afghanistan is far from being inclusive, it is exclusively Taliban. The old organigram of the Taliban movement, with all-powerful Emir Hibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s commissions, deputies, and the has been transplanted into a cabinet with the same political architecture of governments everywhere.
The Women’s Affairs Ministry is out and the reviled Ministry of Vice and Virtue is back. Its makeup is overwhelmingly drawn from Pashtun tribes, with only one Hazara and one Tajik, both Talibs. There’s not a single woman, not even in deputy minister positions as the new order begins under Taliban’s governance.
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