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Who's Who of Taliban Cabinet: Not inclusive, No women Ministers, 17 are on terror list
In the interim Taliban Government, Taliban chief Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada will be the supreme leader and Mohammad Hassan Akhund, a former Taliban Foreign Minister, is the Prime Minister. Taliban co-founder Baradar becomes the Deputy PM. Notable among the Ministers is Sirajuddin Haqqani, the Interior Minister, who is on the FBI’s most-wanted list with a $5 million bounty on his head. Unlike the promise in the withdrawal agreement with the US, the Cabinet is neither inclusive nor free of leaders with terror links and has no women inducted.

KABUL, Sept 7: The Taliban on Tuesday, September 7, announced the new interim Government. Taliban chief Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada will be the Supreme Leader and Mohammad Hassan Akhund, who was the Foreign Minister in the 1996-2001 Taliban Government, will be the Prime Minister.

The Taliban Islamic fighters had seized control of the country on August 15, 2021 even as President Ashraf Ghani fled seeing that the militants were closing in on the Capital Kabul.

The new Government has two Deputy Prime Ministers and no women Ministers. Nor the Government is inclusive, unlike what the Taliban had stated earlier. Instead, various terror groups have found their berth in the new dispensation. (See: Baradar statement) Seventeen of the 33 on Taliban’s Cabinet are on the UN terror list.

Making the announcement, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the new Government will be called the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan." A policy statement in English also accompanied the announcement, attributed to Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban chief. It said, "Based on this principle (upholding Sharia law), in the future, all matters of governance and life in Afghanistan will be regulated by laws of the Holy Sharia." It sought to allay fears of neighbouring countries. “Our message to our neighbors, the region and the world is that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against the security of any other country,” the statement said. It urged foreign diplomats and others to return as “Their presence is the need of our country.” Education “to all countrymen within the framework of Sharia” was also promised. There was no specific mention of women.

Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, Supreme leader & Taliban chief, will be the head of Religious, Political and Military matters. The position of supreme leader of the Taliban he has held since 2016. He was chief of military court in the previous Taliban rule. After the ouster of Taliban by the US in 2001, he became the head of the religious council. In 2015, the then Taliban chief Mullah Mansour appointed Haibatullah Akhundzada as one of his three deputies and later named him as his successor. In 2016 he became the supreme leader after Mansour died. He allowed his son to be a suicide bomber, and later he died in an attack.

Mohammad Hassan Akhund, the PRIME MINISTER, hails from Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban. He was a political adviser of Mullah Omer. Being an Islamic scholar and author, Akhund has a religious leaning than military. He was Governor of Kandahar and also Foreign Minister in the previous Taliban Government. He had once assaulted some UN officials and had earned the reputtion of being bad-tempered. After 2001, he has been the head of the Taliban’s powerful decision-making body called Rehbari Shura, or leadership council, for the next 20 years and had Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada's backing. Akhund has Pashtun lineage from Ahmad Shah Durrani, the founder of modern Afghanistan, in the 18th century.

Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is the First Deputy Prime Minister. He is currently head of the Taliban’s political office. He is the co-founder of Taliban with the late Mullah Mohammad Omer, and had served as Deputy Defence Minister in the erstwhile Taliban Government. He had signed the deal with the US for the latter's withdrawal.

Abdul Salam Hanafi (Uzbek) is the Second Deputy Prime Minister. He is an ethnic Uzbek and Deputy Education Minister in the former Taliban Govt.

Sirajuddin Haqqani is the Interior Minister. He is on the FBI’s most-wanted list with a $5 million bounty on his head. The Haqqani network dominates most of eastern Afghanistan. He is the son of the founder of Haqqani network.

Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the Defence Minister, is the son of Taliban founder and revered Mullah Mohammad Omer. Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada had, after he became chief, appointed him as head of the powerful military commission of the Taliban.

Moulvi Amir Khan Muttaqqi is Foreign Minister. He was involved in the peace talks. He had held Education and Information portfolios in the previous Taliban rule. Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai - Deputy Foreign Minister. He has been the head of the Taliban political office. He had got training at the IMA.

Mullah Abdul Haq Wassiq - the Intelligence chief

Mullah Rahmatullah Najib - Deputy Intelligence chief

Mullah Taj Mir Jawad aks Moulvi Zabiullah - Deputy Intelligence chief

Mullah Hidayatullah Badri (Gul Agha) - Finance Minister

Sheikh Molvi Nurullah Munir - Education Minister

Mullah Khairullah Khairkhwa - Minister Information and Broadcasting (He was a Guatemalan prisoner)

Qari Din Mohamamad Hanif (Tajik) - Minister of Economic Affairs

Sheikh Noor Muhammad Saqib - Minister Hajj and Auqaf

Molvi Abdul Hakim - Law Minister

Mullah Noorullah Noori - Minister for Border and Tribal Affairs

Mullah Muhammad Younas Akhundzada - Minister for Development

Sheikh Muhammad Khalid - Minister for Dawat and Irshaad

Mullah Abdul Mannan Umeri - Minister for Public Works

Mullah Muhammad Essa Akhund - Minister for Minerals and Petroleum

Mullah Abdul Latif Mansoor - Minister for Water and Power

Hameedullah Akhundzada - Minister for Civil Aviation and Transport

Abdul Baki Haqqani - Minister for Higher Education

Najibullah Haqqani - Minister for Communication

Khalil Ur Rehman Haqqani - Minister for Refugees

Haji Muhammad Idris - Incharge, Afghanistan Bank

Molvi Ahmed Jan Ahmedi - Incharge, Administrative Affairs

Mullah Muhammad Fazil Mazloom Akhund - Deputy Defence Minister

Qari Faseehuddin (Tajik) - Army Chief

Molvi Noor Jalal - Deputy Interior Minister

Zabihullah Mujahid - Deputy Minister of Information and Broadcasting Mullah

Abdul Haq - Special Assistant to Interior Minister

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at the news conference that the acting Cabinet has been formed to respond to the Afghan people's primary needs. He said some Ministries remained to be filled pending a hunt for qualified people.

A majority of Ministers are Pashtuns. (42% of the country's population is Pashtun, 27% Tajik and 31 % Hazara and Uzbeks.) There are two Tajiks, one Uzbek and several Haqqanis in the 33-member Cabinet. With the economy in the doldrums, the humanitarian crisis is already looming large. The protracted battle has left everything in ruins. What natural resources Afghanistan has are the mineral deposits and the opium cultivation. There is already widespread shortages of essential commodities and the banks are running out of money as the US and other international agencies have blocked access to funds. Humanitarian aid coming via daily flights from Qatar is a trickle.

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The incident has triggered a debate on social media whether the officer refused to take orders from a party leader or he was accused of any corruption, some netizens justifying the handling in either case, that Ratnakar was blocking public welfare work! It is true the Govt machinery has been the enemy Number One of the people of this country, existing for itself and for these politicians, for well over seven decades. India will never make an inch of progress - real progress, not make-believe-progress - unless and until this machinery is eliminated.

The irony lies in her illustration of her experiences in the country she has been living in for the last four years. What it really is!

ANALYSIS: There have been cases of Britons going to Switzerland to get rid of a miserable life. Now once the House of Lords also passes the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, terminally ill Britons can call it quits with the help of a medical practitioner here itself. But the measure when comes into practice, will have very serious social consequences, it is feared. There won't be comparisons, even as tropes in Latin American folklores. The worst case scenario is of those who are not terminally ill also trying to misuse the provision to leave this world early when life with dignity is not available. But that is, in fact, a political question and not a moral imbroglio!

The CCTV footage and the video circulating on social media do not indicate any serious abnormalities in takeoff or descent, it has been confirmed. The disaster is becoming curiouser and curiouser. The flight path was not curvy. And the aircraft maintained a steady, gliding descent with its nose straight and the wings perfectly level. The pilot's distress call does not specify what prevented lift and climb-out. Here are some expert opinions. The sole purpose is to raise travellers' awareness about air travel.

Many of the victims were charred beyond recognition, making identification difficult. Three hundred nineteen body parts have been sent for DNA matching with relatives to determine the identities.

  • The Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla line provides Kashmir with all-weather connectivity and integrates the Valley with the rest of India.
  • The saying 'Kashmir to Kanyakumari' is now a dream come true.
  • The Chenab bridge on the line, an engineering marvel, is the world's highest railway bridge, taller than the Eiffel Tower. (Video: File)

A comment on social media on Kanimozhi's answer on the question of national language read: "Daughter of Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi. Delivered the Birthday Present to her Father!!" (Karunanidhi was born on June 3, 1924) (Today's headlines )

Trump said, "Elon is not really leaving" and will be "back and forth" to the White House because DOGE is his "baby." "I think he’s going to be doing a lot of things.”

Musk wrote: "My scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end... The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government." Now on it will be on auto-pilot.

PROGNOSIS: DOGE was prematurely born to protect the country by aborting an impending socio-economic disaster which very few people could see coming.

Although its immediate job was to save American taxpayers billions by slashing waste, eliminating fraud, cutting Government bloat and ensuring utmost efficiency in administration for the good of the people. (Today's headlines )

"Coming from a system like in England, empowering," she says she never had an idea of this sort of experience... being asked to “socialise with middle-aged men” who financed the event...humiliating...

Originally from Junagadh, Gujarat, Pataudi was relocated to Etawah Lion Safari in September 2019 before being transferred to Gorakhpur Zoo in 2021. Recently it was receiving treatment for pancreatic and liver infections. After tigress Shakti died in the zoo on May 7 due to bird flu, Pataudi was shifted to Kanpur. Some birds are also reported to have died mysteriously around Gorakhpur. All zoos in UP are closed for fear of a bird flu outbreak.

Three other animals too had died - a tiger, a leopardess and a female wolf. Wolf Bhairavi died last Saturday, leopardess Mona died the Thursday before that and tiger Kesari died on March 30. Some of them had Shakti's symptoms but the cause of death has not been confirmed yet.

As tourist inflow is an indicator of normalcy returning to an erstwhile terrorist infested Valley, the Government has been trying hard to make everything travel-friendly, launching lot many projects and bringing Kashmir on the national rail map that physically completes the process of Kashmir's integration with the rest of India. And that defeats the designs of Pakistan eyeing Kashmir and simply explains a recrudescence of terrorism in J&K.

The committee headed by justice Kurian Joseph will study Centre-State relations and make proposals to ensure foolproof separation of powers.

"It's a big victory not just for Tamil Nadu but for all Indian States. DMK will continue to struggle for and win State autonomy and Federal polity," Chief Minister MK Stalin said.

Of 2.08 km in length, it features 99 spans and a 72.5-metre vertical lift span that rises up to a height of 17 metres, facilitating smooth movement of ships while ensuring seamless train services to the holy town of Rameswaram on Pamban island.

ANALYSIS: There is a lot of hue and cry around the world over Trump's tariffs. But tariff, simply put, is a tax. But unlike tax, it affects the exporting country too. Domestic prices will go up for some time. Nothing more will happen, good or bad!

What motivated Trump's newfound policy, apart from being a stunt to justify his existence in the White House, is a false realisation that increased tariff will make foreign goods prohibitive, thereby boosting local production, and create more jobs, and more prosperity will ring in! If that is true, India would have been shining by now: Producing own Rolls-Royce La Rose Noire Droptail and Scotch Whiskies! And what about coconut and palm oil by America! (Today's headlines )

PROGNOSIS: It looks a Real New Trump is emerging - courageous, balanced, powerful and disinterested. Determined to save his country from the cliff, he has done quite a few draconian things that will reduce the burden of debts of the Federal entity, like the golden handshake, stopping senseless funding, pulling out of a worthless WHO. Shutting the Education Department is another. On the other hand, running it is also not the Centre's job either (We will convincingly elaborate it in the next chapter).

In India the scene is just the opposite. Centralisation is the core agenda and identity of the ruling dispensation without which it has no existence, or in other words, it exists for that set of schemes only. A realisation of this never dawned upon any Opposition party in 2014 or any time thereafter, what to talk of being able to see it coming 70 years ago! The consequence of all this violation of basic natural law of the universe we cannot predict.

THE AMERICAN CONUNDRUM: Political venom has migrated to top echelons in the US. It was reported last year NASA has become politicised, vitiated. But NASA refuted the charge. How Boeing developed a glitch but its unmanned return was smooth. When Suni-Wilmore were stranded last June, why the return was set for February? Because that comes only after January 20! SpaceX called the shots, for itself and for Trump. Then the mission was manipulated for March for a better bargain! In between, what made Elon Musk 'predict' during campaign if Kamala Harris wins he would be in jail. In politics, it is said, "the only rule is there are no rules." Difficult times for Americans too.

The terminations are part of a large-scale exercise going on all across Fed departments and organisations to reduce wasteful Government expenditure as decided by a Trump in a mess gone berserk, and improve administrative efficiency following the whims of billionaire and his associate Elon MusK and his DOGE. It has not been shared how terminations are going to raise the efficiency bar! It looks like Trump has stolen some of the prescriptions meant for India. But the American problems are quite different.

Suddenly these colonial clerks feel this effortless, little rule will tremendously enhance security and convenience for the railway passengers manifold. More stations will be covered in the next 77 years! (Also See: New Delhi station stampede... What went wrong?)

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