Taliban Dismisses Physician from Health Ministry, Appoints Cleric Instead

The Taliban dismissed Qalandar Ebad from the Ministry of Public Health and appointed Maulawi Noor Jalal, a former aide to the Ministry of Interior, as his successor.

Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, stated that based on a decree by Mullah Hibatullah, the governors of the group in Samangan and Faryab have also been relocated.

Qalandar Ebad, the former Taliban’s Minister of Public Health, is a physician. He was appointed as the interim head of this ministry after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan. However, Noor Jalal is a cleric and was introduced as the administrative deputy of the Taliban's Ministry of Interior in the summer of 2021.

The Taliban spokesperson did not provide any explanation regarding the dismissal of Ebad.

Mujahid wrote in a note on X social media platform on Tuesday, that Abdul Ahad Fazli, the former governor of the group in Samangan, has been appointed as the new governor of the Taliban in Faryab.

According to a decree by Hibatullah Akhundzada, Mohammad Shoaib Resalat, the former governor of the Taliban in Faryab, has been appointed as the governor of the group in Samangan.

Mujahid also wrote that Rahmatullah Najib, the former administrative deputy of the Taliban intelligence, has been appointed as the administrative deputy of the Ministry of Interior of the group.

As per the Taliban’s leader’s decree, Mohammad Sadiq Inqilabi, the former district governor of the Taliban in the Grishk district of Helmand province, has been appointed as the deputy governor of the group in Kandahar, and Hayatullah Mubarak, the former deputy governor of the Taliban in Kandahar, has been dismissed and assigned as the governor of Grishk district, Helmand province.

Hibatullah has been appointing most members of the group to key government positions.

The lack of professionalism among Taliban members has also been repeatedly criticised.