Taliban recruits from old guard for interim government

After announcing victory over the last resistance force in Afghanistan and dispersing a women’s protest in Kabul, a Taliban spokesman introduced interim cabinet members. He did not indicate how long the caretaker government would lead or whether it will hold elections. The Taliban previously promised a more inclusive government but has not appointed any female or non-Taliban members to leadership positions. Sirajuddin Haqqani, the acting interior minister, is head of a U.S.-designated terror group and on the FBI’s most-wanted list for connections to a deadly 2008 attack in Kabul. Mullah Hasan Akhund, the interim prime minister, is a founding Taliban member and close aide to the late supreme leader Mohammad Omar.

Is the United States still evacuating people? U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken announced Tuesday that the State Department was working with the Taliban to arrange charter flights out of Kabul. Blinken met face-to-face on Tuesday with American troops, Afghan refugees, and officials at the U.S. Embassy in Doha, Qatar. The Taliban official in charge of the Kabul airport said any traveler with a valid passport and visa can leave, but passengers without documentation have been grouped with authorized travelers, meaning no one can leave until everyone has the correct documents. 

Dig deeper: Listen to Emily Whitten outline the Classic Book of the Month, Taliban, on The World and Everything In It podcast.