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Highlights
- Mullah Hassan Akhund has been appointed as Afghanistan’s Prime Minister.
- Mullah Baradar – a comrade of Mullah Omar – has been appointed as his deputy.
- India fears Pakistan hand in Taliban’s government formation.
The faction of the Taliban that led the talks in Doha – considered politically pragmatic – has been marginalised in the final government list, according to political observers.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, who had been heading the Taliban's office in Doha, Qatar, was edged out in favour of a hardline Taliban leader, Mullah Hassan Akhund, for the post of Prime Minister. Mr Baradar, has long been associated with Taliban and happens to be one its two founders – other being his pal Mullah Omar.
Another member from the Doha group, Sher Abbas Stanikzai, who held a meeting with India's envoy in Qatar’s capital on 31 August, has been made Deputy Foreign Minister – a clear case of sidelining.
This has ruffled the feathers of Indian policy makers, who fear involvement of its hostile neighbour – Pakistan – in the government formation in Pakistan. India fears that once Pakistan secures its western border with Afghanistan, it might shift focus to the eastern border of India. India and Pakistan have fought multiple wars over disputed region of Jammu and Kashmir – a mountainous area where both countries stake their claim.
Pakistan's stamp is clearly evident, according to analysts, in the inclusion of two Haqqanis in the cabinet, including Sirajuddin Haqqani as Interior Minister, sparking concerns in India.
Sirajuddin Haqqani, the son of anti-Soviet warlord Jalaluddin Haqqani, who founded the Pakistan-linked Haqqani Network, is on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI's) most wanted list for terrorism. So is his uncle Khalil Haqqani, who was named acting minister for refugees.
Two other members of the Haqqani clan were also named in the adhoc government. Notably, the new Taliban government was announced after the chief of the Pakistani ISI visited Afghanistan last weekend.
Meanwhile, Taliban supremo Hibatullah Akhundzada is the third Emir of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.
Bottom Line:
With the new Taliban government up and running, it will be significant to see how it deals and negotiates with its neighbours and the international community. Even though the new Taliban regime has the hallmarks of Pakistani involvement, only time will reflect the actual repercussions of Doha negotiators being sidelined in the new Afghanistan government.
