Taliban Appoints Ex Guantanamo Detainee As Defence Minister: Report

Taliban have appointed loyal, senior veterans to the posts of Finance Minister and Defence minister, two members of the group said, as it switches focus from its military conquest of the land-locked nation.

Over 10 days after the Taliban captured Kabul following the collapse of the US-backed government, they are now switching focus to how to run a country in crisis. Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the co-founder and deputy leader of the Taliban, is likely to be the next president of Afghanistan. Taliban have appointed loyal, senior veterans to the posts of Finance Minister and Defence minister, two members of the group said, as it switches focus from its military conquest of the land-locked nation. The ministerial choices have not yet been made official, a Taliban leader said. The new Defence Minister is Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, a former detainee at the US prison in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Al Jazeera news channel reported citing a Taliban source.