The Taliban have pledged to protect the rights of minorities and underprivileged groups as the Islamist group announced an all-male interim government in Afghanistan, without mentioning women's rights that were curtailed under its previous rule.
In the first statement since the Taliban captured the capital Kabul in mid-August, supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada said Tuesday the government will also promote education.
But he did not refer to education of women that was restricted when the Taliban were previously in power between 1996 and 2001.
The supreme leader said the government, which began work on Wednesday, will govern in accordance with Islamic law, maintaining that the Taliban have fought for liberating Afghanistan from foreign occupation and establishing a complete Islamic system in the nation.
While the government -- which is made up mostly of Pashtuns, the dominant ethnic group within the Taliban -- is likely to struggle to win international recognition, Akhundzada said he wants strong and healthy relations with other countries based on mutual respect and interaction.
He also said the Taliban are committed to all international laws and treaties as long as they do not conflict with Islamic law.
The government consists mostly of senior Taliban officials in key Cabinet posts and they will revive the much-feared Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which repressed women during the previous rule.
Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, who served as deputy prime minister in the previous Taliban-ruled government through 2001, will lead the new government as prime minister, while Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the Haqqani Network, a militant group labeled by the United States as a terrorist group, was named as acting interior minister.
As the Taliban released the names of 33 members of its interim government, a Taliban spokesman said the list is not yet complete and more appointments may be coming.
On Aug. 15, the Taliban returned to power for the first time in about 20 years before the United States completed the withdrawal of its troops from Afghanistan in late August, bringing an end to two decades of war triggered by the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, on U.S. soil.
