MOSCOW (TASS): The head of the Taliban movement, Mullah Haybatullah Akhundzada, is likely to become the supreme leader of Afghanistan by analogy with the Iranian model. This was reported to TASS on Friday by a source in the leadership of the Islamic Party of Gulbeddin Hekmatyar.
“According to my information received from people in the Taliban, the movement has decided to appoint Mullah Mohammad Hasan as prime minister, and Mullah [Abdul Ghani] Baradar as his deputy. Akhundzada will remain the supreme leader of the country,” he said. Mohammad Hassan is, he said, “a well-known Taliban functionary.”
However, the party’s representative still does not rule out the appointment of Baradar himself as head of the cabinet. This opinion was expressed to him by Pakistani sources.
“Mullah Yakub (son of the founder of the Taliban, Mullah Omar) will be the Minister of Defense. Sirajuddin Haqqani is the Ministry of Internal Affairs, [head of the Commission on Taliban Leadership] Amir Mottaki will become the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and movemen is planned to be appointed Minister of Finance. For these candidates [within the movement] there is a decision on the appointment. They plan to announce this within 24-48 hours, “- said the agency’s interlocutor.
