Taliban appoints ex-Guantanamo detainee Abdul Qayyum Zakir as Def Minister

Washington, Aug 24 (UNI/SPUTNIK) The US Department of Defense has declined to comment to Sputnik on the recent report that the Taliban (banned in Russia as a terrorist group) appointed Abdul Qayyum Zakir, a former detainee in Guantanamo Bay camp, as an acting defense minister.

Al Jazeera broke the story earlier on Tuesday citing a source from the movement.

“We’re not going to comment on Taliban staffing decisions,” the Pentagon said in an email to a Sputnik correspondent.

Zakir was released from the Guantanamo prison camp in 2007. He later reportedly directed operations in the Helmand province of Afghanistan. He was reportedly appointed as a Taliban military commander in 2011 but three years later he stepped down due to tensions with other Taliban leaders.

On August 15, the Taliban entered Kabul, claiming de facto control over all of Afghanistan and causing the US-backed government to collapse. Many countries have resorted to evacuating their citizens and diplomatic personnel from the beleaguered nation due to the precarious security situation, and some have pledged to take in a limited number of Afghan asylum seekers.