Taliban starts govt formation; appoints FM and intelligence chief

The Taliban have appointed a new finance minister, an intelligence chief, and an acting interior minister in Afghanistan, the Pajhwok news agency reported on Tuesday.
 
It said Gul Agha would be the finance minister and Sadr Ibrahim would be the acting interior minister. Najibullah would be intelligence chief, while Mullah Shirin would be Kabul governor and Hamdullah Nomani the mayor of the capital. The Taliban appointed an obscure official as acting central bank governor as signs emerge of a financial crunch in Afghanistan, with ATMs running out of cash and prices of essential goods spiraling.
 
Mohammad Idris, who headed the Taliban’s economic commission, will “address the looming banking issues and the problems of the people” as head of Da Afghanistan Bank, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahed said on Twitter.

 

‘No evacuation extension’
 
Afghanistan's new Taliban rulers said on Tuesday they wanted all foreign evacuations from the country completed by an August 31 deadline and they would not agree to an extension.
 
The Taliban's Mujahid said the group had not agreed to an extension of the deadline and it wanted all foreign evacuations to be completed by August 31.
 
He also called on the United States not to encourage Afghan people to leave their homeland.
 
Taliban also added that the group is no longer allowing Afghan nationals to go to Kabul airport and called on crowds at the airport to go home.

 
News agency AFP also reported that the Taliban have asked the US to stop evacuating skilled Afghans.
 
CIA director meets Taliban leader
 
US President Joe Biden sent CIA Director William Burns to meet Taliban leader Abdul Ghani Baradar in Kabul on Monday in the highest-level official encounter since the militant group took over the Afghan capital, a US official and a source familiar with government activity told Reuters on Tuesday.
 
Pak urges ‘inclusive’ deal with Taliban
 
Pakistan's foreign minister said on Tuesday that an inclusive political settlement is the best way forward for peace and stability in Afghanistan following the Taliban takeover. Pakistan fully supports efforts in that direction, he added.

 
UK to discuss criminalising entering Afghanistan: Report
 
The British government will discuss proposals to blacklist Afghanistan, which would allow its authorities to jail people for up to 10 years if they were proven to have visited the outlawed territory, The Telegraph newspaper reported.
 
“We're looking at every option available at this stage about how we proceed in the future. This is one of the options”, the newspaper quoted a source as saying. The proposals will be discussed later this week.