Two weeks after taking over power, when Afghanistan has been without any government, the Taliban are likely to announce a new administration after  Friday afternoon prayers, with its top spiritual figure Haibatullah Akhundzada set to be named the country’s supreme authority, Taliban sources and media reports said.

The hardline Islamist group’s most visible public face Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, one of Akhundzada’s three deputies, is poised to be the in-charge of the day-to-day running of the government, international news organizations claimed.

On Thursday, the Taliban’s cultural commission member Bilal Karimi said the group has reached a “consensus” on forming a new government under Akhundzada's leadership. The reclusive Akhundzada, who took over after the group’s then head Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was killed in a US drone strike in 2016, would be the supreme leader of Afghanistan – with his authority being above that of the president or the prime minister - and is likely to have the last word on important political, religious and military issues.

News agency AFP quoted unnamed Taliban sources as saying that the Sunni Islamist group would announce its cabinet after morning prayers on Friday. The country’s leading local broadcaster ToloNews too, claimed an announcement was imminent.

Baradar, the Taliban’s political head, who arrived in Afghanistan last month from Doha, Qatar, via Pakistan, is likely to lead the new government. according to three unnamed sources quoted by news agency Reuters.  Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of late Taliban founder Mullah Omar, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, who heads the group’s political office In Doha, are set to take up important slots in the new government, according to the sources.

The Taliban has been holding discussions both internally and also externally – with other groups and leaders – on the contours of a future administration ever since capturing the federal capital Kabul as also most other parts of the country in a lightning assault that led to the collapse of the US-backed government amidst the pullout of American troops.

Meanwhile, the Taliban disclosed it has already appointed provincial governors, and police chiefs and police commanders for provinces and districts.

“There is a governor in each province who has started working. There is a district governor for each district and a police chief in each province who are working for the people,” said Taliban leader Abdul Hanan Haqqani.

Meanwhile, the Indian government said it was unaware of the nature of the new Afghan government that the Taliban planned to form.

"We are not aware of any details or nature of what kind of government could be formed in Afghanistan,”said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi.

On Tuesday, India had its first formal contact with the Islamist group when the Indian ambassador to Qatar Deepak Mittal met Stanekzai in Doha at the Indian mission.

(SAM)