The Taliban’s deputy leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar says the group is in the process of forming an inclusive government.
Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office, made the remarks in an interview with Al Jazeera on Saturday.
“I assure the people that we strive to improve their living conditions,” Baradar said.
He also stated that “the government will be responsible to everyone and will provide security because it is necessary for economic development, not just in Afghanistan but in the whole world.”
“If we are able to provide security, we will overcome other problems, and from here the wheel of progress and advancement will begin.”
Citing sources within the group, Reuters reported on Friday that Baradar would lead the new government in Afghanistan.
And Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob – the son of late Taliban founder Mullah Omar – and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai would be taking senior roles, the sources said.
The legitimacy of the new government in the eyes of the international community will be crucial to Afghanistan’s economy.
The country battles drought and the ravages of a conflict that took the lives of an estimated 240,000 people over two decades of US war and occupation.
The Taliban are now poised to run the country again 20 years after they were removed from power by the invading forces of the United States and its allies.