KABUL (Dispatches) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani ordered a shake-up of two ministries charged with managing national security against the backdrop of an intensification of attacks by the Taliban to capture more territories.
The president’s office said in a statement that Ghani had appointed General Bismillah Khan Mohammadi as the new defense minister. General Abdul Sattar Mirzakwal was appointed interior minister.
Mohammadi has previously served as the defense and interior minister as well as the chief of army staff after the fall of the Taliban following a U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
The new defense minister replaces Asadullah Khalid, who has repeatedly flown out of the country for treatment to wounds suffered after an assassination attempt in 2012.
Meanwhile, the Taliban claim to have seized more than 40 districts since early May, forcing military leaders to strategically retreat from a number of rural districts.
The group has intensified attacks to seize territories since the United States missed a deadline for the withdrawal of its troops it had agreed with the Taliban in Qatar last year.
The militant group said on Sunday they were committed to peace talks.
The statement came amid slow progress in the talks between the militant group and Afghan government representatives in Qatar and as violence rises dramatically around the country.
“We understand that the world and Afghans have queries and questions about the form of the system to be established following withdrawal of foreign troops,” said Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, the head of the Taliban’s political office, in the statement, adding the issues were best addressed during negotiations in Doha.
“Our very participation in the negotiations and its support on our part indicates openly that we believe in resolving issues through (mutual) understanding,” he said.
He added that women and minorities would be protected and diplomats and NGO workers would be able to work securely.
“We take it on ourselves as a commitment to accommodate all rights of citizens of our country, whether they are male or female, in the light of the rules of the glorious religion of Islam and the noble traditions of the Afghan society,” he said.
Baradar said authorities would provide facilities “for women to work and be educated.”