KABUL: The Taleban announced the top members of their government yesterday, in a move that will cement their power over Afghanistan and set the tone of their new rule just days after a chaotic US troop pullout. The Islamist hardliners, who swept into Kabul on Aug 15 following a lightning offensive that decimated the former Afghan army, had pledged a more "inclusive" brand of rule than in their first stint in power in 1996-2001.

They have nonetheless made it clear that they will stamp out any insurgency, and yesterday they fired shots into the air to disperse hundreds of people who had gathered at several rallies in Kabul in a sign of defiance against a movement remembered for their brutal and oppressive rule. Yesterday evening, chief spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a press conference that the new government would be an interim one, and that Taleban veteran Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund would serve as its new acting prime minister. He had served as deputy foreign minister under the Taleban's old regime, and is on a UN blacklist.

Mujahid also said that Taleban co-founder Abdul Ghani Baradar will be the deputy leader. Previously he served as the head of his movement's political office, overseeing the signing in 2020 of the US withdrawal agreement. Mullah Yaqoob, the son of the Taleban founder and late supreme leader Mullah Omar, was named defense minister, while the position of interior minister was given to Sirajuddin Haqqani, the leader of the feared Haqqani network who also doubled up as a Taleban deputy leader.

The Taleban have promised an "inclusive" government that represents Afghanistan's complex ethnic makeup - though women are unlikely to be included at the top levels. Asked why the government did not appear to be inclusive - with no women on the list - Mujahid said: "The cabinet is not complete, it is just acting. We will try to take people from other parts of the country."

Amir Khan Muttaqi, a Taleban negotiator in Doha and member of the first regime's cabinet, was named foreign minister. Overall, 19 ministries, three directorates, seven deputy ministers and an army chief were announced yesterday. The Taleban have named their government the "Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan".

Shortly after the announcement of the new lineup, Hibatullah Akhundzada, the secretive supreme leader of the Taleban, made his first statement since his movement's stunning takeover of Afghanistan, saying that the new government would "work hard towards upholding Islamic rules and sharia law".

Following their 20-year insurgency, the Taleban now face the colossal task of ruling Afghanistan, which is wracked with economic woes and security challenges - including from the Islamic State group's local chapter. Scattered protests in recent days have indicated that some Afghans are skeptical of the Taleban's capacity to translate their promise of a more moderate rule into reality.

In Herat, scores of demonstrators marched, unfurling banners and waving the old Afghan flag - a black, red and green vertical tricolor with the national emblem overlaid in white. Taleban militants opened fire to disperse the crowds who had gathered to protest against Pakistan - seen widely as a backer of Afghanistan's new rulers. Two bodies were brought to the city's central hospital from the site of the protest, a doctor in Herat told AFP on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals. "They all have bullet wounds," he said.

"Afghan women want their country to be free. They want their country to be rebuilt. We are tired," protester Sarah Fahim told AFP at one rally in Kabul yesterday, where more than 70 people, mostly women, had gathered. Videos posted on social media of a separate rally showed more than a hundred people marching through the streets under the watchful eye of armed Taleban members.

General Mobin, a Taleban official in charge of security in the capital, told AFP he had been called to the scene by Taleban guards who said that "women were creating a disruption". "These protesters are gathered based only on the conspiracy of foreign intelligence," he claimed.

An Afghan journalist covering the demonstration told AFP his press ID and camera were confiscated by the Taleban. "I was kicked and told to go away," he said. Later, the Kabul-based Afghan Independent Journalists Association said 14 journalists - Afghan and foreign - were detained briefly during the protests before being released. Images shared online showed reporters with cuts and bruises to their hands and knees. Yesterday's demonstrations come after the Taleban claimed total control over Afghanistan a day earlier, saying they had won the key battle for the Panjshir Valley.

Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the Taleban had reiterated a pledge to allow Afghans to freely depart Afghanistan. The Taleban told the United States that "they will let people with travel documents freely depart", Blinken said at a news conference in Doha, where he and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met their Qatari opposite numbers. US President Joe Biden has faced mounting pressure amid reports that several hundred people, including Americans, have been prevented for a week from flying out of an airport in northern Afghanistan.

Qatar, a US ally that has emerged as a key player both in evacuations and diplomacy on Afghanistan, said it was working to restore the Kabul airport which has been in disarray since the chaotic end of the 20-year US war. A reopening would allow both a resumption of evacuations, if the Taleban follow through on commitments, and the shipment of badly needed humanitarian assistance.

Blinken and Austin voiced appreciation in a dinner Monday with Qatar's ruler Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. Yesterday, Blinken toured the Al-Udeid airbase outside of Doha, where nearly half of the more than 120,000 people airlifted out of Afghanistan have transited. The two cabinet members met privately with five Afghans who had worked for the United States and fled for fear of retribution, with Blinken voicing empathy for their journey.

He toured an aircraft hangar that had been converted into an air-conditioned processing hub in the hot desert sun, with more than 200 green cots - now empty - set up for Afghans, and soldiers staffing a table to distribute baby formula and diapers. "I'm grateful for what you've done, your country is proud of you, the president of the United States is proud of you," Austin told assembled US soldiers and civilians at the base. - AFP