https://arab.news/n7v86
- Taliban formed a caretaker administration following 2021 takeover
- Announcement indicates ‘no hope for major change’ in current form of government
KABUL: Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader of the Taliban, has ordered his ministers to remove the “acting” designation from their titles, a move experts say indicates the establishment of a permanent Afghan government.
Weeks after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, the group formed a caretaker government consisting almost entirely of senior figures and without female representation, which has remained in place ever since.
As Afghanistan marks the fourth anniversary on Friday since the Taliban takeover of the country, the group’s reclusive chief, who rules largely from Kandahar, told his officials to stop using “caretaker” in their roles.
“All ministers and the cabinet of the Islamic Emirate should not use the word caretaker in their titles,” Akhundzada said in a statement.
When the Taliban first announced a caretaker administration it was framed as a temporary set-up before the country established an official and inclusive government that included women and members of Afghanistan’s diverse ethnic groups.
Afghans were expecting a voting system to establish a permanent government that would include their voices, whether it was in the form of elections or a “loya jirga,” a grand assembly traditionally held to reach a consensus on important political issues.
“But now that the supreme leader (has) instructed that the current government is official, from a legal perspective the supreme leader’s decree constitutes a law for the Taliban government, replacing the constitution,” Abdul Saboor Mubariz, board member of the Center for Strategic and Regional Studies in Kabul, told Arab News.
“The political implication of this decision could be that there is no hope for major change in the present form of government.”
The initial announcement of a caretaker government, he added, was in the hope of gaining official recognition by the international community.
With the exception of Russia in July, no other nation has formally recognized Taliban rule since the group seized power in 2021.
“But now they (have) realized that no big progress has been made in that regard so they want to make the current government permanent,” Mubariz said.
Naseer Ahmad Nawidy, a political science professor at Salam University in Kabul, said the removal of “caretaker” in ministerial titles could mean higher authority for Taliban officials.
“(It’s) something positive. The ministries in Kabul need to have (a) free hand and more authority in their relevant tasks considering the expertise required for each sector,” he told Arab News.
The Taliban also used the term initially to mean that “the ministers were only temporary and that the actual authority was only with the supreme leader in Kandahar,” Nawidy added.
“It also has another message to the executive officials: that no one should be above obeying and all decrees of the leader must be implemented without any questions,” he said.
“The new announcement is an indication that the Islamic Emirate wants to show that the government is fully established.”