{"id":13468,"date":"2026-05-20T16:06:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:06:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/2026\/05\/20\/taliban-communications-minister-replaced-herat-mayor-internet-restrictions\/"},"modified":"2026-05-20T16:06:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-20T16:06:12","slug":"taliban-communications-minister-replaced-herat-mayor-internet-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/2026\/05\/20\/taliban-communications-minister-replaced-herat-mayor-internet-restrictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Taliban Reshuffles Leadership: Minister of Communications Replaced and Appointed Mayor of Herat"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Taliban spokesperson announced that Mawlawi Hamdullah Naeemi has been removed from his position as Minister of Communications and Information Technology and appointed as the Mayor of Herat. Simultaneously, Mullah Abdulahad Fazli, the former governor of Faryab, has taken over the responsibility of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. These changes were publicized on Wednesday, 20 May, by Zabihullah Mujahid.<\/p>\n<p>According to a new directive from the Taliban leader, Mullah Nematullah Hasan, the former mayor of Herat, has also been appointed as the Technical and Professional Deputy Head of the General Directorate for Municipal Affairs. These shifts are part of a series of recent appointments within the Taliban administrative structure.<\/p>\n<p>Two weeks ago, on 3 May, the Taliban leader issued the order to dismiss Naeemi from the Ministry of Communications and appoint Mullah Abdulahad Fazli as his replacement. With Naeemi\u2019s appointment as the Mayor of Herat, these changes have now been finalized.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, sources have informed media outlets that the newly appointed communications minister has initiated measures to restrict citizens\u2019 internet access in Afghanistan; if confirmed, this move could raise concerns over freedom of expression and access to information.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, reports suggest that Fazli, during his tenure in Helmand, seized a green area near the mayor\u2019s office and is now reportedly attempting to build a wall around it. These allegations have not been officially addressed by the Taliban administration.<\/p>\n<p>Experts have repeatedly stated that appointments within the Taliban administration are mostly based on ideological loyalty, allegiance to the group\u2019s leader, and individuals\u2019 wartime backgrounds rather than scientific expertise and managerial experience. Critics believe that continuing this trend could negatively impact the quality of public services and the efficiency of government institutions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Taliban replaced the Communications Minister with former Faryab governor and appointed him mayor of Herat amid internet restrictions and administrative concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":13467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-important-news","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/atlaspress.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}