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IEA announces additional appointments to key positions

Published

3 years ago

September 21, 2021

(Last Updated On: September 21, 2021)

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’s (IEA) deputy minister of culture and information on Tuesday announced the rest of the interim government’s key appointments including cabinet members.

Addressing a press conference in Kabul, Zabihullah Mujahid said expertise in the respective fields had been taken into account in appointing the acting ministers and other officials.

He said in doing this, the ministries will be strengthened and standardized.

Mujahid said that the following appointments have been made in the Ministries by the order of Ameerul Momineen Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the IEA:
• Haji Nooruddin Azizi has been appointed as acting Minister of Commerce.
• Haji Mohammad Bashir has been appointed as First Deputy Minister of Commerce and Haji Mohammad Azim Sultanzada as Second Deputy Minister
• Qalandar Ibad as acting Minister of Public Health, Abdul Bari Omar and Mohammad Hassan Gheyasi as his acting deputies
• Sadar Mullah Mohammad Ibrahim has been appointed as the Deputy Security Minister for the Ministry of Interior
• Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir acting deputy defence minister
• Engineer Nazar Mohammad Motmaen has been appointed as the acting-head of the National Olympic Committee.
• Engineer Mujeeb-ur-Rehman Omar as the acting Deputy Minister of Power and Energy
• Haji Ghulam Ghaos as the acting Deputy Minister of Counter-Disaster
• Dr. Mohammad Faqir as the acting Head of the Central Statistics Office
• Haji Gul Mohammad as the acting Deputy Minister of Borders
• Gul Zarin Kochi as the second acting Deputy Minister of Borders
• Arsala Khoroti as the acting Deputy Minister of Refugees
• Dr. Lutfullah Khairkhwa as the acting Deputy Minister of Higher Education
• And Engineer Najibullah as the Director of Afghanistan’s Atomic Energy Agency

Mujahid said the government’s planned inauguration ceremony has been canceled as the IEA wants to get ministries and directorates back to work as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, asked by reporters if the cabinet is now inclusive, Mujaid said that representatives of minorities, including Hazaras, have been appointed to official positions.

Citing an example, Mujahid said Mohammad Hassan Gheyasi, the new acting deputy minister for public health is a Hazara.

“Minorities are considered in the cabinet and we are working to make it more inclusive,” Mujahid said.

Mujahid also said that the current cabinet will continue as an interim government for now until the IEA leaders have made their final decision.

On the topic of girls returning to school, Mujahid said: “We are working to complete the procedures so that girls can resume their education.”

On issues involving the health sector, Mujahid said that the visit to Kabul by the World Health Organization’s Director General Tedros Adhanom on Monday had raised hopes that a number of issues in this sector would be addressed and resolved soon.

On the issue of media, Mujahid said: “The media is important and we support the media. There have been some problems in provinces, but these are being addressed.”

In response to a question on the scrapping of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, he said the interim government needs time to address issues around education and work relating to women and that the IEA first needs to ensure the safety of women and girls.

Discussing a number of other issues, he said the IEA was using all diplomatic channels available to have Afghanistan’s frozen assets released. He also said commercial flights into Kabul will resume as soon as the airport’s main radar system has been repaired.

According to him, the radar system was badly damaged when foreign troops withdrew.

On Daesh (ISIS-K) activities, Mujahid said that the group has no physical presence in any part of the country.

“The Daesh (ISIS) that exists in Iraq and Syria does not exist here. Still, some people who may be our own Afghans have adopted the Daesh mentality, which is a phenomenon that the people do not support,” he said but added the IEA would stop “cowardly” attacks.

This comes after Daesh claimed responsibility for a series of bomb blasts that rocked the city of Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan over the weekend.

Related Topics:additional appointments featured IEA Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Zabihullah Mujahid

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IEA sets up delegation over Badakhshan protests

Published

54 mins ago

May 5, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: May 5, 2024)

The Islamic Emirate has announced the appointment of a delegation headed by Chief of the Army Staff Fasihuddin Fitrah, amid protests in Badakhshan province over the killing of a local resident by security forces during poppy crackdown.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Islamic Emirate, emphasized in a statement that the decree banning poppy cultivation extends to all regions without exception.

“Regrettably, there have been incidents where offenders attempted to attack the security forces involved in the fight against poppy cultivation, resulting in tragic events,” he said.

The delegation includes Shamsuddin Shariati, the head of overseeing and monitoring directives and commands, Mullah Abdul Haq, deputy minister of narcotics control, Mullah Rahmatullah Najib, deputy general director of intelligence, and Abdul Momin, chairman of the Badakhshan Ulema Council.

Darayem district of Badakhshan has seen protests against the Islamic Emirate in recent days.

The Ministry of Interior has confirmed that one of the local people was killed in a clash with the forces tasked to destroy poppy fields in the district.

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Terrorist threats to US interests from Afghanistan, Pakistan steadily rising: USIP

Published

16 hours ago

May 4, 2024

Ariana News

(Last Updated On: May 4, 2024)

Following the concerns over terrorist threats from Afghanistan, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) says in a report that terrorist threats against US interests from Afghanistan and Pakistan are steadily rising.

The report stated that “Afghanistan presents growing space for terrorist groups compared to the period before the U.S. withdrawal.”

“ISIS-K [Daesh] presents a rising threat with reach beyond the immediate region, greater than during the pre-withdrawal period,” the report reads.

It added that “The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) terrorist group has also returned as a regional security threat.”

“The study group’s final report evaluated and put forth policy options to mitigate terrorist threats and safeguard U.S. interests in Afghanistan and Pakistan, while maintaining the current focus on strategic competition,” the report added.

“Unfortunately, the geography of Afghanistan and the relations of terrorist groups in the region have caused the countries of the region and the world to express concern about possible challenges. The Islamic Emirate should take measures to form an inclusive government so that the spirit of the regional fight against terrorism is practically strengthened and launched,” said a military expert.

Meanwhile, the Islamic Emirate has called the report “baseless” and said that it has no relationship with al-Qaeda and that Daesh has been suppressed in Afghanistan.

IEA’s deputy spokesman Hamdullah Fetrat added that there is no terrorist group in Afghanistan and the government does not allow Afghan soil to be used against other countries.

“The Islamic Emirate has repeatedly said that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against the interests of countries. Once again, we assure the countries of the world and the region that Afghanistan’s soil will not be used against their interests, nor is Afghanistan a threat to them,” Fetrat stressed.