TALIBAN co-founder Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar is set to lead a new Afghan Government, sources in the Islamist group said on Friday. The development comes as the Taliban is battling rebel fighters in Panjshir Valley and was striving to ward off an economic collapse, ‘TOLO News’ reported. The formation of a new Afghan Government by the Taliban, which was to be announced on Friday, has now been delayed by a day, according to the spokesman of the insurgents Zabiullah Mujahid.

 

He said that the announcement about the formation of the new Government will now be made on Saturday. Baradar, who heads the Taliban’s political office in Doha, will be joined by Mullah Mohammad Yaqoob, the son of late Taliban co-founder Mullah Omar, and Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanekzai, in senior positions in the Government. Haibatullah Akhunzada, the Taliban’s supreme religious leader, will focus on religious matters and governance within the framework of Islam, another Taliban source said.