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Developments in Afghanistan

Taliban ends consultations on Afghanistan's new government — Al Jazeera

According to the movement's spokesman Zabihulla Mujahid, the results of the consultations would be annonced soon

© EPA-EFE/STRINGER

CAIRO, August 31. /TASS/. The radical Taliban movement (outlawed in Russia) which has seized power in Afghanistan, is through with consultations on the makeup of a new government, the TV broadcaster Al Jazeera said on Tuesday.

"The negotiations on forming a new government in Afghanistan have come to an end. The results will be announced soon," Al Jazeera quotes the movement's spokesman as saying.

On August 29, Taliban spokesman Zabihulla Mujahid said the Taliban was going to complete the formation of a new government within two weeks. In the meantime, the Taliban has appointed police chiefs in all of the country's 34 provinces. Also, they appointed some acting government ministers and nearly all provincial governors, as well as mayors of many cities. The spokesman for the movement's political wing in Qatar, Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai, said that all appointments were temporary and that most positions went to officials who had been in office before the Taliban took power.

The Taliban launched a large-scale operation for establishing control of Afghanistan after the United States last spring declared the intention to pull their forces out of the country. On August 15, President Ashraf Ghani stepped down and left Afghanistan. The Taliban entered Kabul without encountering resistance. The Taliban's Ahmad Massoud-led opponents in Panjshir Province said they would offer resistance. Former Vice-President Amrullah Saleh, who has declared himself as acting head of state, has called for supporting the resistance.

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Power transfer in Afghanistan

Military operation in Ukraine

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