Mullah Fazel Mazloom Appointed Taliban Minister of Transport and Aviation

Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesperson for the Taliban administration, has announced that Mullah Fazel Mazloom has been appointed as the Minister of Transport and Aviation. Meanwhile, Mullah Hamidullah Akhundzada, the former minister of this department, has been appointed Deputy Minister of Defense. According to Mujahid, these changes were made under the orders of Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban.

Mujahid wrote on his X (formerly Twitter) page that these changes are part of the internal restructuring within the Taliban administration. So far, the Taliban administration has not provided a clear explanation for these changes, a matter that has been consistently criticized due to the lack of transparency in the decision-making processes of this administration.

Mullah Fazel Mazloom is a well-known figure within the Taliban from their first period of rule between 1996 and 2001. At that time, he was one of the prominent commanders of the Taliban and, following the fall of that regime, he was arrested by forces loyal to Abdul Rashid Dostum and subsequently transferred to Guantanamo Bay prison.

After years of detention, he was released in a prisoner exchange. Following his release, Mullah Fazel served as a member of the Taliban’s negotiation team and played a role in the talks that led to the signing of the Doha Agreement in February 2020, a deal that paved the way for the complete withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan.

After the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan in August 2021, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense and now, with this recent decree, he has taken on the responsibility as Minister of Transport and Aviation.