Sirajuddin Haqqani, whose organisation is on a U.S. terrorism list, has been named interior minister in the new Taliban interim government.
Mullah Hasan Akhund, an associate of the movement’s late founder Mullah Omar, was named the new head of government.
Mr Haqqani is the son of the founder of the Haqqani network, designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States.
He is one of the FBI’s most wanted men due to his involvement in suicide attacks and ties with Al Qaeda.
Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, head of the movement’s political office, was appointed as Mr Akhund’s deputy, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a news conference in Kabul.
Mr Baradar’s appointment as Mr Akhund’s deputy, rather than to the top job, came as a surprise to some as he had been responsible for negotiating the U.S. withdrawal and presenting the face of the Taliban to the world.
Mr Baradar, also once a close friend of Mullah Omar, was a senior Taliban commander in charge of attacks on U.S. forces.
He was arrested and imprisoned in Pakistan in 2010, becoming head of the Taliban’s political office in Doha after his release in 2018.
Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, son of Mullah Omar, was named as defence minister.
All the appointments were in an acting capacity, the Taliban spokesman said.
It was not clear what government role would Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban supreme leader, play.
He has not been seen or heard in public since the collapse of the Western-backed government and the seizure of Kabul by the Islamist militant movement last month, as U.S.-led coalition forces completed their withdrawal after a 20-year war.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters on Air Force One, as President Joe Biden flew to New York, there would be no recognition of the Taliban government soon.
The Taliban have repeatedly sought to reassure Afghans and foreign countries they will not return to the brutality of their last reign two decades ago, marked by violent punishments and the barring of women and girls from public life.
Mr Akhund has been close to supreme leader Mr Akhunzada for 20 years and is longtime chief of the Taliban’s powerful decision-making body Rehbari Shura, or leadership council.
He was foreign minister and then deputy prime minister when the Taliban were last in power from 1996-2001.
Mr Mujahid, speaking against a backdrop of collapsing public services and economic meltdown, said the acting cabinet would respond to the Afghan’s people’s primary needs.
He said some ministries remained unfilled pending a hunt for qualified people.
