DNA Explainer: Decoding new Afghanistan government and what it means for India

After weeks of taking over the country, the Taliban finally announced its new Afghan government on Tuesday evening. Taliban's new government has been formed on the lines of the Iranian model. The group's top spiritual leader Haibatullah Akhundzada is Afghanistan's supreme authority as Ali Khamenei of Iran is since 1989. Akhundzada is however not a part of the government.

Just after the appointments, Haibatullah Akahundzada instructed the new government to uphold Islamic rules and Sharia law in Afghanistan. However, the most striking thing is that the Taliban announced their cabinet just three days after Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Chief Lt General Faiz Hameed's Kabul visit.

Here we try to decode the Taliban's new government formation and things noteworthy in this government.

Pakistan imprint

This is clearly visible from the fact that leaders of the Haqqani Network terrorist outfit and the Kandahar-based Taliban group dominate the new Afghan cabinet.

Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund and other names were likely finalised after Pakistan ISI Chief Faiz Hameed visited Afghanistan during the weekend.

The Taliban group based in Doha, which negotiated with the international community and had established contacts with New Delhi, seems to have been sidelined.

The choice of Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund as the new Afghan Prime Minister clearly shows Pakistan's hands in the selection process of cabinet ministers.

Hassan Akhund who is on the UN terror list is said to have sanctioned the destruction of the iconic Bamiyan Buddhas in 2001 declaring it a 'religious duty'.

Choosing Haqqanis 

Sirajuddin Haqqani is the new Afghan interior minister. He is the son of the former mujahideen fighter and CIA asset Jalaluddin Haqqani who died in September 2018.

Sirajuddin Haqqani became the head of Haqqani Network, an Islamist terrorist mafia with close links to the banned outfit al-Qaeda, based in Pakistan's North Waziristan.

Haqqani was responsible for the terrorist attack on the Indian Embassy in Kabul in 2008 killing 58 people, and the attacks against Indians in Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010.

Sirajuddin Haqqani is a designated global terrorist. He was allegedly involved in planning the attempted assassination of Hamid Karzai in 2008, the FBI says on its website.

Khalil Haqqani, brother of Jalaluddin Haqqani and uncle of Sirajuddin is the new minister for refugees. He too is a specially designated global terrorist with close ties to al-Qaeda.

Old Taliban leaders

The cabinet has many Taliban leaders from the previous regime (1996-2001) led by Mullah Mohammad Omar. Many are on the UN terror list and extremely close to the ISI.

Prime Minister Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund is the hardline chief of Pakistan-based 'Quetta Shura' and is among the founders of the Islamist movement. 

Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund had served as foreign minister and deputy prime minister during the Taliban’s first government in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001.

The new acting minister of public works, Mullah Abdul Manan Omari, is the brother of the Taliban founder Mullah Omar and the uncle of Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob.

Mullah Yaqoob who is the acting minister for defence in the new regime was a student of Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada and was the head of the Taliban military commission.

Mullah Baradar sidelined

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the co-founder of Taliban is the new Deputy Prime Minister. He signed the Doha Agreement with the US and was expected to head the regime.

It appears that Mullah Baradar's chances were scuttled by the ISI which does not trust him entirely. Baradar had communicated directly with former US President Trump over the phone. 

Another member who was part of the Doha negotiating team, Abdul Salam Hanafi, an Uzbek by ethnicity has been appointed as the second Deputy Prime Minister.

No women in the Cabinet

No woman member has been included in the new Afghan Cabinet and there are very few non-Pashtuns or Afghanistan's ethnic minorities, only three out of the 33 members. 

The non-Pashtuns include the second deputy head of government Abdul Salam Hanafi, chief of the army staff Qari Fasihuddin and the minister of economy Qari Deen Hanif.

Hanafi is Uzbek, while Fasihuddin and Hanif are Tajiks. Fasihuddin was awarded the army chief post as he played a key role in the Taliban's advance in Badakhshan.

There were women negotiators in the Intra-Afghan talks in Doha, but none of them have found a place in the new Afghan cabinet.

Stanekzai out

Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai who had engaged with many international interlocutors in Doha as the deputy head of the Taliban office has been sidelined.

Stanekzai had met Deepak Mittal, India's ambassador to Qatar on August 31, the first official contact between India and the Taliban that was made public.