Taliban may announce framework for new Afghan government soon

One of the founding members of the Taliban Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar reached Kabul on Saturday to join the discussions with Afghan political leaders.

The Taliban is likely to announce a framework for setting up of the new government in Afghanistan in a few weeks, the country’s television channel Tolo News reported on the basis of a conversation between an official of the Islamist militia and news agency Reuters.

The legal, religious and foreign policy experts in the Taliban were deliberating on the framework that would form the basis of Afghanistan's government.(Tolo News)

Those familiar with the evolving situation said the Taliban leadership and a group of Afghan political leaders continued to hold negotiations on the formation of a government. However, there is no clarity yet on whether the key points have been discussed.

It was learnt that the legal, religious and foreign policy experts in the Taliban were deliberating on the framework that would form the basis of their government.

One of the founding members of the Taliban and the militia’s second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar reached Kabul on Saturday to join the discussions with Afghan political leaders.

This comes a day after former Afghanistan president Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, the head of the High Council of National Reconciliation, met Kabul’s acting governor Abdul Rahman Mansour, in which they discussed the security of Kabul and its people.

Political analyst Tariq Farhadi was quoted as saying by Tolo News that the Taliban is likely to take around 10 days, as there are issues concerning the inclusion of women and representatives of all Afghan ethnicities in the government.

“If they continue with their monopolisation of power like Ashraf Ghani and distribute it to certain provinces, without respecting other provinces and their people there could be a possibility of a civil war,” warned another political analyst, Farhad Akbari, according to Tolo News.

Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi is scheduled to visit Kabul later in the day to meet with Taliban leaders. Weiss Nasir, a political analyst Tolo News spoke to, said Qureshi's visit assumes significance at a time when Pakistan is willing to "play its part" in forming a new government in Afghanistan with the Taliban and politicians.

A senior Taliban leader said last week, however, stressed there would be no democratic system at all in Afghanistan because it "does not have any base" in the country, while highlighting that the new regime would impose the Shariah law.