KABUL— Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada has appointed five new provincial police chiefs in recent weeks, bypassing Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani, who has been absent from public view for over a month, sources said.
The new appointments include Nik Mohammad Malang as the Taliban police commander in Badakhshan (on February 25); Abdul Sattar Saber in Jawzjan (on March 8); Abdul Ahad Talib in Kandahar (on February 16); Abdullah Hamad in Khost (on January 29) and Abdul Wali Atqani as the Taliban police commander in Badghis (on March 9).
Mohammad Asif Siddiqui, a former deputy chairman of the Afghan Senate, said that police appointments now come directly from Akhundzada without the involvement of the Taliban’s Interior Ministry.
“Haqqani’s faction is increasingly sidelined, and they are now looking to strengthen their ties in the Arab world and build trust with the United States,” Siddiqui said.
Haqqani, a key figure in the Taliban’s power structure, reportedly left for the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in February amid growing dissatisfaction over Akhundzada’s centralization of power.
Credible sources indicate that since his departure, Haqqani had not been seen in Kabul or his strongholds in Paktia, Khost, and Paktika until at least March 8.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, however, recently claimed that Haqqani has returned.
“He is in the country and resting after medical treatment,” Mujahid said.
Despite this statement, no recent photographs or public appearances of Haqqani have surfaced in the past 50 days. The last known image of him was from a meeting with UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed in late January, along with undated photos purportedly showing him performing Umrah.
The United Nations had previously confirmed that Haqqani was granted a travel ban exemption from February 4 to February 15 for Umrah, though the Taliban claim he traveled for medical reasons.
Sources told Amu TV that in Haqqani’s absence, his deputies, Mohammad Nabi Omari and Ibrahim Sadr, have been overseeing the operations of the Interior Ministry.
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