Kabul, Jul 17 (EFE) .- The prime minister of the Taliban interim government in Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund, on Monday returned to office after a three-month break for health reasons.
“The prime minister after rest and treatment in (southern) Kandahar province on Monday returned to the capital Kabul,” Taliban’s deputy spokesperson Bilal Karimi said in a statement.
“Upon his arrival at ARG (Presidential Palace), Mullah Muhammad Hassan Akhund will resume his work as prime minister for a better and smooth functioning of the country’s affairs,” Karimi said.
According to the spokesperson, Hassan Akhund, one of the founding members of the Taliban movement in the 1990s, returned to office as per the instructions of the Taliban supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada.
Hassan Akhund had been in southern Kandahar, the birthplace and stronghold of the group, for the past three months for getting medical treatment and taking rest from the work.
During Hassan Akhund’s absence, Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada in May appointed Maulavi Abdul Kabir, who previously served as deputy prime minister in political affairs, as acting prime minister.
At that time, sources from the Taliban government had said that Hassan Akhund might not return to office due to his illness, despite the supreme leader not accepting his resignation.
Hassan Akhund, who has been on the United Nations blacklist for years, was appointed prime minister in 2021 after the Taliban took control of Kabul in August of that year.
Hassan Akhund, despite keeping a low profile among other Taliban leaders, has been one of the main members of the Taliban leadership council for nearly three decades. EFE
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