Taliban leader sidelined after dramatic shootout

WASHINGTON: The man the US and its allies hoped would be a moderate voice in Afghanistan’s Taliban government has been sidelined after a dramatic shootout in the presidential palace in Kabul, people with knowledge of the matter told Bloomberg.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the group’s most public face who led peace talks with the US, was physically attacked by a leader of the Haqqani Network in early September during talks at the palace over forming the cabinet, the people said.

Baradar had pushed for an “inclusive” cabinet that included non-Taliban leaders, the people said. But during the meeting, Khalil ul Rahman Haqqani rose from his chair and began punching the Taliban leader.

Their bodyguards entered the fray and opened fire on each other, killing and wounding a number of them, the people said. While Baradar was not injured, he has since left the capital and headed to Kandahar to speak with Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s spiritual head.

The cabinet includes no one from outside the Taliban. Members

of the Haqqani family received four positions, with Sirajuddin Haqqani becoming acting interior minister. Baradar was named one of two deputy prime ministers.

Women’s ministry out, morality police in: BBC

The BBC reported that the Taliban may have closed down the women’s affairs ministry and replaced it with a department that enforces religious doctrines. The sign at the ministry seemed to have been replaced with that of the ministry of virtue and vice, the BBC said.

Also, the UNSC unanimously extended the mandate of the UN assistance mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) by six months. The mission can now work till March 17, 2022.

Mullah Baradar