Taliban appoints ex-Guantanamo Bay detainee as acting minister of defence

Afghanistan’s Taliban movement has appointed a former Guantanamo Bay detainee, Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir, as acting defence minister, Al Jazeera reported yesterday.

Zakir, born in 1973, was arrested by US forces after their invasion of Afghanistan in 2001.

After his release, Zakir is said to have directed military operations in Helmand Province, north of the country, before assuming the position of the movement’s general military commander.

The Taliban and Afghan politicians have recently begun consultations about the new Afghan state, after the movement took control of the country.

The second man in the Afghan Taliban movement, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, arrived in Kabul last Saturday to hold talks with the movement’s leaders and other politicians about forming a new government.

A Taliban spokesman said the movement aims to unveil a new governance framework for Afghanistan in the next few weeks.

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