Afghanistan may be governed by a ruling council now that the Taliban has taken over, while the movement’s supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, would likely remain in overall charge, a senior member of the group told Reuters.
The Taliban would also reach out to former pilots and soldiers from the Afghan armed forces to join its ranks, Waheedullah Hashimi, who has access to the group’s decision-making, added in an interview.
How successful that recruitment is remains to be seen. Thousands of soldiers have been killed by Taliban insurgents over the last 20 years, and recently the group targeted US-trained Afghan pilots because of their pivotal role.
The power structure that Hashimi outlined would bear similarities to how Afghanistan was run the last time the Taliban were in power from 1996 to 2001. Then, supreme leader Mullah Omar remained in the shadows and left the day-to-day running of the country to a council.
Akhundzada would likely play a role above the head of the council, who would be akin to the country’s president, Hashimi added.
“Maybe his (Akhundzada’s) deputy will play the role of ‘president’,” Hashimi said, speaking in English.
The Taliban’s supreme leader has three deputies: Mawlavi Yaqoob, son of Mullah Omar, Sirajuddin Haqqani, leader of the powerful Haqqani network, and Abdul Ghani Baradar, who heads the Taliban’s political office in Doha and is one of the founding members of the group.
Many issues regarding how the Taliban would run Afghanistan have yet to be finalised, Hashimi explained, but Afghanistan would not be a democracy.
“There will be no democratic system at all because it does not have any base in our country,” he said. “We will not discuss what type of political system should we apply in Afghanistan because it is clear. It is Sharia law and that is it.”
Hashimi said he would be joining a meeting of the Taliban leadership that would discuss issues of governance later this week.
On recruiting soldiers and pilots who fought for the ousted Afghan government, Hashimi said the Taliban planned to set up a new national force that would include its own members as well as government soldiers willing to join.
“Most of them have got training in Turkey and Germany and England. So we will talk to them to get back to their positions,” he said.
“Of course we will have some changes, to have some reforms in the army, but still we need them and will call them to join us.”
Hashimi said the Taliban especially needed pilots because they had seized helicopters and other aircraft in various Afghan airfields during their lightning conquest of the country after foreign troops withdrew.
“We have contact with many pilots,” he said. “And we have asked them to come and join, join their brothers, their government. We called many of them and are in search of (others’) numbers to call them and invite them to their jobs.”
He said the Taliban expected neighbouring countries to return aircraft that had landed in their territory – an apparent reference to the 22 military planes, 24 helicopters and hundreds of Afghan soldiers who fled to Uzbekistan over the weekend.
PEOPLE SAY Y DID THE ANA FOLD UP SO SOON ?
The ANA was trained by the Indians – and so,it was doomed !
It was ONLY the USSR which invested in the ANA , and developed its leadership and IDENTIFIED TALENT , for recruitment.
Y ?
Because of IDEOLOGY ! Communism !
It was the intellectual coordinate and intersection of Communism,between the USSR and the Afghans – which provided the osmotic and symbiotic relationship between the 2 ,and thus,the 2 armies and their nations and leaders,,were comrades in arms and partners in an ideological war.THERE WAS NEVER A THREAT PERCEPTION TO THE USSR,FROM THE ANA
USA was just using the ANA as cannon fodder and mercenaries.There was NO IDEOLOGICAL COORDINATE OR PROXIMITY OR CONVERGENCE.
The entire military strategy and leadership was American.The US aim was to keep 350000 ,men FROM JOINING TALIBAN and using the ANA,to keep the Taliban and Al Qaeda ON THE MOVE.When there is movement, enemies BECOME TARGETS – who can then be killed !There was never any attempt to build an ANA leadership ,as the ANA would have toppled Ghani ,as soon as the US left.
The issue is not the technology given to the ANA.You do not need high-tech to fight Taliban.Basically,the ANA knew that the Taliban were at BAY ONLY DUE TO THE AMERICANS.ANA WAS USED TO KEEP THE TARGET MOVING AND VISIBLE and the TRIANGULATION WAS ALL DONE BY THE US WITH DRONES AND OTHER TECHNOLOGY
ANA knew that once the US left .- it was ONLY A QUESTION OF TIME ! The ANA could not even protect the Salma Dam of the Indians which was also a disaster
like Chabahar !
And with the exit of the US, the vacuous ness of the Afghan regime’s ideology,was exposed – and so,the ANA said – WHAT ARE WE DYING FOR – NOW ?
There is a misconception about the 1 Trillion USD spent by the US,Most of it is transfer pricing, like salaries on the US army.Some of it is Military Training and R&D – which is experimentation with new tech and tactics.The payments to ANA and The Afghan state ,are TO CREATE A MINION OF SPIES AND AGENTS FOR LIFE – SO IT IS AN INVESTMENT – NOT A COST.
The Residual cost of A FEW BILLION USD, IS THE COST OF NOT HAVING A 9/11 – CAT INSURANCE ! AND IT WAS WORTH IT FOR THE US !
But now,if the US does NOT BAIL OUT TALIBAN – THEN THAT INSURANCE POLICY MIGHT BLOW UP ! dindooohindoo