Taliban acting cabinet announcement sparks mixed public reaction

KABUL (Pajhwok): Reacting to the Taliban acting cabinet, some people have criticized the lack of professionalism and exclusiveness while some said, piety, honesty, loyalty was more important.

The Taliban on August 15 captured Kabul and on Wednesday announced its acting cabinet to fulfill the power vacuum in the country for the time being.

The acting Taliban cabinet will be led by Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhundzada while Mullah Beradar and Mullah Abdul Salaam Hanafi will serve as deputies.

The 30 cabinet ministers are mostly religious scholars, some ministries and independent government institutions are yet to be fulfilled.

Unprofessional, exclusive cabinet

Dr. Ahmad Sarmast, a social media user on his twitter account wrote, “17-member of Taliban cabinet are individuals on the UN black list and there is no one with professional background. How can we call this cabinet an inclusive one?”

Esmat Asim, another social media activist, wrote, “The spent three weeks claiming to form an inclusive government in which every portion of society could see themselves.”

Ahmad Jameel Popalzai, another social media activist, objected the cabinet and wrote: “The cabinet is formed from 15 Mullah, nine Mawlavis, three Hajis, two Shaikahs and two Qaris.”

Previous cabinet was not professional

Mohammad Sharif Umarzai, on his facebook account, wrote: “I want to congratulate all Afghans on new cabinet announcement and said criticizing the system before letting it to work would be injustice.”

“When it comes to professionalism and commitment, it were not considered in the previous regime and majority of ministries were run by acting officials for years. At least there is security in the existing government for which we should be thankful,” he said.

Shah Mahmood Shahin wrote: “In Dr. Ghani’s government the justice minister was a physician, communication minister was laboratory expert, higher education minister was a school teacher, the Da Afghanistan Bank head was rejected by the parliament but still he served till the end.”

Abdullah Basharat on his facebook page wrote: “Piety and religiousness was important then professionalism and specialization.”

He said the reality is this that the previous government cabinet was more unprofessional, most of its members were illiterate, some members degrees were fake and fraudulent, they lacked commitment and sincerity with their job. Corruption, bribery were at its high and the nation suffered a lot from all these wrong doings. Now let Mullahs to do their jobs.

Najibullah Khan on his facebook page wrote: “Personally I support a cabinet of professional individuals but we all witnessed that during Karzai presidency the cabinet was full of corrupt, prejudice and war mongering individuals, they put nation’s wealth into their private pockets and looted the country. The Taliban now brings all Mullahs and Ulema and not give them time to serve the people.”

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