Zabihullah Mujahid asked to work from Kandahar in addition to Kabul, a move seen by the Taliban chief as an affirmation of control.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief spokesman for the Taliban government in Afghanistan, has been asked to work from the southern city of Kandahar in addition to the capital Kabul, a Taliban spokesman confirmed to Al Jazeera.
Innamullah Samangani, another deputy spokesman in the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, has been transferred to Kandahar in one of the first transfers of officials under the Taliban administration since it returned to power in August 2021.
Samangani will now become the head of the provincial-level press and information agency, a Taliban source told Al Jazeera.
The move is seen as a declaration of power by Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhunzada, who is based in the southern city, about 450 km to the north. Akhunzada rarely appears in public and mostly stays in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban movement.
Abdul Haq Hammad, head of the media watchdog at the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture, told Al Jazeera that Bilal Karimi, Mujahid’s deputy, will still be stationed in Kabul, while the former will commute between Kabul and Kandahar.
The reason for the latest changes – which underscore the growing importance of Kandahar – has not been disclosed by the Ministry of Information.
Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer in transitional justice at the American University of Afghanistan, believes the supreme leader made the decision to consolidate power around him in Kandahar.
“It seems that the Emir is very paranoid about his own ministers, so he is trying to make sure he has everything under control,” Baheer told Al Jazeera. “It also shows his lack of trust in the others in Kabul, so he’s trying to take control as much as he can… this, in the absence of constitutionalism and any division of power, will continue to happen.”
Supreme Leader Akhuzada is believed to have pushed for hardline policies and is reportedly behind the decisions to deny girls and women access to education and ban women from working in NGOs.
Mujahid, who remained in hiding during the Taliban’s 20-year war against US-led foreign forces, held a series of open press conferences in the wake of the Taliban takeover in 2021, pledging women’s rights and media freedom.
But the group has since gone back on its promises, imposing widespread restrictions on women. Mujahid initially said schools are reopening after an infrastructure upgrade to make way for gender-based class segregation. Going forward, however, the group has only doubled by announcing further curbs on women.
Earlier this week, the Taliban banned Afghan female United Nations employees from working.
Yet several senior Taliban leaders have raised their voices in support of women’s education and guaranteed their rights to work under Islam.