Little of the information circulating about the new head of government in Afghanistan is really secure.

For the leaders of the Taliban, who acted in secret for a long time, this is only typical.

The United Nations sanctions list, on which Muhammad Hassan Akhund has been since 2001, names a village in Kandahar province as his place of birth.

He is said to have been born there sometime between 1945 and 1958.

During the first Taliban rule, he first served as governor of his home province, later became foreign minister and, shortly before the fall of the regime in 2001, took over the leadership of the government.

One could read from his appointment that the message that the Taliban want to pick up where they left off 20 years ago after taking power.

Alexander Haneke

Editor in politics.

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But how clear a message is can seldom be said in the current situation in Afghanistan. That starts with the question of whether or not Mullah Hassan, as Akhund is called under the Taliban, is a compromise candidate. Contemporary witnesses of the first Taliban rule reported that at the time he was known more for a confrontational attitude. The widespread thesis that he appeared more as a spiritual than a military or political leader is contradicted with reference to his role in the first Taliban regime. In addition, he is said to have fought as a mujahideen commander before the Taliban. In any case, authority gives him the fact that he was a close confidante of the first Taliban emir Mullah Omar and was reportedly one of the founders of the movement.

After the fall of the first Taliban regime in 2001, he apparently helped Mullah Omar to rebuild the leadership structures from Pakistan. He was a member of the highest leadership council, which at the time was called Quetta-Shura after the presumed meeting place in Pakistan. In 2013, he was seen at secret negotiations in China that Pakistan had instigated.

His relationship with Pakistan will now be closely monitored. It was not until the weekend that the unusually high-profile visit by the Pakistani intelligence chief, Faiz Hameed, to Kabul caused a sensation. Even within the Taliban, the relationship with the neighboring country that the organization once helped to build should be struggled with. Hameed's visit came at a time when the introduction of the new government was being postponed again and again. In the days before, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the previous head of the Taliban's political office, was still considered the most promising candidate for the office of head of government. But Baradar sat in a Pakistani prison for many years and is not said to be a friend of the neighboring country.